Attitude change and policy transformation: Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestinian question, 1967-95

Long identified as a source of religious inspiration, Jerusalem may now serve as a learning opportunity for political accommodation. On the surface, the noise of absolute and irreconcilable demands seems to assure yet another period of extreme rhetoric and perhaps violence. Yet with all the absolutism of political verbiage, there has been a willingness on the part of leaders to behave differently than they speak. In contrast to the strict monotheisms that compete in revering Jerusalem, and the reminders of the violence that is possible, the greatest contemporary lesson of the city may be in the utility of creative ambiguity. The lessons apply not only to Jerusalem but to other difficult conflicts.