A structured scientific solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the analytic hierarchy process approach

Background Five years ago we began preliminary work to organize the difficult issues, associated with the six decade old confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians. With the support of a number of private foundations, we were able, on several occasions, to gather together in Pittsburgh participant groups of equal size, consisting of people who were interested in and knowledgeable about this conflict. Over time these initial participants were replaced by citizens of Israel and of Palestinian residency. Finally, a group of prominent Israeli and Palestinian leaders were invited to complete the cycle. This latter group has worked together for several years and has developed trust and confidence in one another that facilitated their deliberations. These serious-minded and influential participants proceeded to pursue goals to provide decision makers with quantitatively based parameters with regard to the major issues involved in the conflict. The last two meetings were held in January and in April of 2014. A summary of how AHP can be used to resolve conflicts is shown in section two of this paper. Suffice it to say that the advantages which the AHP provides over face to face negotiations are critical intellectually and substantively. These advantages include minimizing the emotional interplay between the parties, accurately measuring the impact of intangible factors not previously considered, Abstract