Resolve a Conflict, Heal a Relationship...

"Who's right?" and "Meeting needs" in global conflict

Why is it so important to release "Who's right?" and shift to needs-based thinking? The first reason, is that unmet needs are the very source of conflict. Second, needs are universal. They are our common ground and focusing on them creates connection. Being able to feel a connection to some one you are in conflict with is key to resolving conflict.

Look at this example on the global scale:

There are more than 50 years of recent history, thousands of years of ancient history, to sort through if we want to determine "Who's right?" in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If you make notes on either side of a page you'll find countless exhibits of atrocity and "wrongness" on each side.

If you look through the lens of human needs you see a different picture. Regardless of how it occurred or whose fault it is, thousands of Palestinians are homeless - Today. They need homes and they need to be treated as equal citizens. On the other hand, the Jews of Israel, as a culture, survived a world gone mad, a world that sought to wipe them from the face of the earth. The Israeli people need to feel and be safe.

What has been going on between Israelis and Palestinians has not been providing homes or creating safety.

You can spend time going into great detail enumerating and reliving how each side has been wronged...or you can put your energy into the complex task of meeting the core needs of both sides. It is not possible to untangle all the threads that go backward. Resolution must look forward to the task of meeting needs. Creating Homes, equality, safety is no small order by anyone's measurement - but certainly it is a potentially more useful task than determining "Who's right?"