Professor Munther Dajani is renowned for his work in the Middle East peace process. He has published several books, scholarly articles and a dissertation, all of which have attempted to posit potential solutions to the unending crisis. He is the founder and former chairman of the Department of Political Science and Diplomatic Studies at Al Quds University in Jerusalem, Israel. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Al Quds and the Director of the Issam Sartawi Center for the Advancement of Peace and Democracy. Dr. Dajani is in Oberlin for the week teaching a mini-course on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

What is the aim of the course?

The objective of the course is to familiarize students with the Arab-Israeli conflict but, since it is a short mini-course, I like to make it issue-oriented. There will be five lectures, each with an issue open for discussion.

For example, in the one lecture we will speak about narratives. There is an Israeli narrative and there is a Palestinian narrative. This is basically what the contested part is, [why they] are fighting. Each thinks that his narrative is the right one. I am involved in trying to narrow the gap between those narratives.

Another lecture will be about the historical relation between the United States, Israel and Palestine. There is also a long tradition of misconceptions and misperceptions about Palestinians, about Israelis and so on, and we would like to work on correcting that. Another lecture will be about Jerusalem. There are two narratives as far as Jerusalem is concerned.

If we really want to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict we have to be open-minded and have goodwill. This is the essence of what negotiation is all about. But if people go into the negotiation with very strict and guarded notions of what they want and what they don’t want, there are no negotiations. They will be imposing on each other their points of views.

There is also a touchy issue: the [Palestinian] refugees. The refugee problem can be divided into two parts, as far as I am concerned. Everybody accepts that the refugees have rights, but the “right of return” can be negotiated. If they want to go back to Palestine it’s fine, but not to Israel. But if they want to go somewhere else like Canada, or Australia, or New Zealand or the United States, then they can acquire a compensation package for all the refugees.

If you look at it, all issues are negotiable if [the participants] have good will.

In the course, are you going to present solutions, or are you going to pose questions and challenge students to invent solutions?

Actually, both. There have been solutions on the ground for the last 40 years, but nobody ever cares to implement them. Secretary of State Rogers [1969-1973] had a very good solution. Every three to five years somebody comes up with a plan, and the plan is almost similar to any other plan because it takes all the basics into consideration. But what happens? Nobody implements.

There is the Crown Prince Fahd’s Plan. There is the Reagan Plan. Now we are talking about a Bush Plan and an Arab Summit Plan. It’s exactly like 30 years ago. History keeps repeating itself. They keep coming up with new plans, which are not really new because if you knew the history. It’s old wine in new bottles.

What kind of environment needs to exist in order for there to be peace?

We have to get out of a culture of war and start working for a culture of peace. Nobody has worked for a culture of peace for the last 50 years. Everybody has been working on a culture of war.

The Norwegians have donated a lot of money to something called People to People programs, but these programs really became a very big industry between the involved factions. Rather then working on the ground, on the grassroots, it became a business, and this is what went wrong with it.

I noticed in the syllabus you are going to devote one lecture to Hamas. What do you think of Hamas’ presence in Palestine?

It’s very destructive because whenever extremism takes over, there are reasons for why people become extreme. Israeli draconian measures against the Palestinians destroyed what was left of the moderate movement. Second, the corruption, which was implemented by Fatah on the ground [led to extremism].

I was Director of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, and I have resigned three times from top public official positions in protest of corruption. Corruption [in Israel] is very, very serious. The problem is, this is donors’ money, which means it is the taxpayers’ money, and for people to take advantage of that and be corrupt is just unacceptable. There must be an alternative for the problem.

What do you hope students will get out of the course?

If we are able to provoke them to think about the Arab-Israeli conflict in a new vision, a new concept with new ideas, this is what it is all about. One has to keep an open mind and an open heart in order to be able to [do this].

Studying is seeking the truth and seeking knowledge and seeking a new vision for oneself and to develop oneself and to work on himself as a human being. Part of the course, hopefully, will help you understand the Arab-Israeli problem in a completely different context, in a new context. I’m very optimistic that we will have peace, but we don’t want it tomorrow. We are working to have peace today. We want to do everything which is possible to grant our children what we couldn’t have: a life blessed with harmony and peace and prosperity.

As a final note, what prompted you to teach the course in the first place?

I actually volunteered to teach this course. Oberlin Rabbi Shimon Brand was very excited about it and he followed it up and made it happen. I was ready to come and teach it.