The Locked Room Scenario

The latest news in relation to Mr.Kerry’s cautious, very discrete and yet persistent venture into the realms of Mid-East peace diplomacy is already giving some cause for concern.

It seems it may not be quite the done deal that everyone was applauding on Friday and clarification of one or two major issues still need to be settled before the first preliminary meetings can ever begin. This does not augur well for rapid progress and we might all be about to experience another re-run of that perennial production, the Israeli-Palestinian peace stand-off with all its familiar tricks and trappings.

And therein lies the problem.

How can negotiations – even the mere onset of negotiations – be sufficiently insulated from the many external pressures and separate agendas that constantly play havoc with this type of deliberation?

For these discussions to achieve the most minimal margin of success, such a process cannot afford the constant interruption by and deferral to the capricious nature of a situation consumed by so much tension and dispute.

Ideally, the very best solution might be to confine all parties having business in this matter to the inside of a locked debating chamber. No exit would then be granted until they all had given unanimous approval to a final status agreement, one that was signed, sealed and with the fabled document ready for instant communication to the world outside.

Or better still, lock down the conflict itself, place it inside a containment field of the strongest possible construction and then have the entire debate outside in the open, free from the distractions and devious purposes of so intractable a problem.

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Either way, the results should be well worth waiting for.