Jerusalem is in the heart of an apparently endless conflict.

Religion, culture, terrorism, military forces and Holy tradition confront each other every day. Most of the world’s intolerance and incomprehension is represented in a small scale there.

The source of the conflict between Jews and Arabs is the claim of a religious priority. Israel claims that the land, as it is biblically written, was promised only to the descendants of Abraham’s younger son Isaac. On the other hand the Arabs claim that the land was promised to all the descendants of Abraham, and the Arabs themselves claim to be the descendants of his elder son Ismahel.

So far all of the solutions for peace have failed.

What do they all have in common? The negotiation processes has the same pattern and the leaders who make the decisions were the highest in charge, head of states.

1 . The negotiation process:

It is common sense to try to work on the easy issues at the beginning and leave the big ones for the end. This is done both in our daily life and in the Israel-Arab conflict. Jerusalem, the water issue, the Gaza Strip are often left to the end. What if we try things the other way round and solve the Jerusalem issue first?

We all know that decisions are made more easily if we are four or five people around the table. One peacemaker can be good and beneficial. Five peacemakers are unproductive. It is problematic if there are too many people around the table. How is it possible to solve a problem when we have the Palestinian position, the Israel position, the US position, the UN position, and the UK position, the European position (which could be divided into 10 different positions) and the Holy See position?

The one I prefer is the Holy See position (Jerusalem as an international city) with the addition of what has been decided at the Taba Summit in 2001 (Jerusalem capital of both states, with both the Israeli and the Palestinian Parliament there).

That Summit was probably the pinnacle moment in the peace process, it was the only time when Palestinians and Israelis came to an agreement. We should start from there. It is just unfortunate most of the public opinion simply forgot about that summit.

2. The leaders.

Decisions made from the top are good, but decisions made from the very top (ie. too far) can be a disaster. How to translate handshakes into a real solution? How much power leaders at the very top have at the local level?

How many steps, levels, bureaucrats, powers are there between their signatures and the problem of a mother afraid to leave her child at school? Who is leading and managing the electricity company? Who is leading and managing the water company?

Focusing on the local level means analysing job-by-job, street-by-street, house-by-house, for us to gain a better understanding. It is also for them to gain a better understanding of themselves.

The purpose is to bring people together, to make them share problems, feelings, worries and successes. “To involve” everybody must be the objective.

Why is IKEA so successful? It is because customers participate in the building process, which is why they love the end product. They feel an attachment to it! If you build your own furniture you will not criticize yourself about your work.

The same principle should apply in Jerusalem. People should work to build the city as a “team”, it should not have been Clinton, Arafat and Rabin in the past, nor should it been Obama, Abu Mazen and Netanyau today.

Jerusalem is a very diverse city, inhabited by Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Catholic: put the people together and let them work alone.

Just before World War I, both the Jews and the Arabs were TOGETHER supporting the allied powers against the Ottoman Empire. The hostility started around 1920s during the rapid influx of Jewish immigrants from Europe and it grew to today’s instable situation.

The Orpheus Chamber orchestra in New York has no director. The players have reached such perfection in their team building that there is no need for a leader. There is no excuse, no scapegoat and everyone is accountable for perfection in their performances.

If we work together on the bus, on the water management, in the construction company, to distribute energy, then we will know each other better.

We will understand each other better.

We will be less afraid of each other.

There must be a first step towards peace.

Note: The information and figures mentioned here are taken from Wikipedia. And Wikipedia is the example of how ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results, if they work together!