MASTERS OF PEACE 19 Lama Ismail Re-Imagining Peace: Analyzing Syria’s Four Towns Agreement through Elicitive Conflict Mapping innsbruck university press MASTERS OF PEACE 19 innsbruck university press Lama Ismail Re-Imagining Peace: Analyzing Syria’s Four Towns Agreement through Elicitive Conflict Mapping Lama Ismail Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, Universität Innsbruck Current volume editor: Josefina Echavarría Alvarez, Ph.D This publication has been made possible thanks to the financial support of the Tyrolean Education Institute Grillhof and the Vice-Rectorate for Research at the University of Innsbruck. © innsbruck university press, 2020 Universität Innsbruck 1st edition www.uibk.ac.at/iup ISBN 978-3-903187-88-7 For Noura Foreword by Noura Ghazi1 I am writing this foreword on behalf of Lama and her book, in my capacity as a human rights lawyer of more than 16 years, specializing in cases of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention. And also, as an activist in the Syrian uprisings. In my opinion, the uprisings in Syria started after decades of attempts – since the time of Asaad the father, leading up to the current conflict. Uprisings have taken up different forms, starting from the national democratic movement of 1979, to what is referred to as the Kurdish uprising of 2004, the ‘Damascus Spring,’ and the Damascus- Beirut declaration. These culminated in the civil uprisings which began in March 2011. The uprisings that began with the townspeople of Daraa paralleled the uprisings of the Arab Spring. Initially, those in Syria demanded for the release of political prisoners and for the uplift of the state of emergency, with the hope that this would transition Syria’s security state towards a state of law. Due to the violence inflicted on non-violent demonstrators, and the interference of Islamic groups and external states (whose agendas benefit their own policies), the uprising became a non-international armed conflict, which quickly developed into an international armed conflict. The most prominent external states in the Syrian armed conflict include Iran, Russia, Turkey, the US, as well as the countries supporting opposition groups such as the Gulf states. Eight years of conflict have produced all that is conceivable of human rights abuses, such as indiscriminate shelling on civilians, arbitrary arrests, executions, disappearances, besiegement, hunger, and internal displacement. In addition, there is overdependence of all conflict parties on their patrons, not to mention the Israeli violations on Syrian territory. All of these abuses led to an economic, social and perhaps intellectual and moral collapse in the structure of Syrian society. Moreover, internal displacement and migration has largely separated and affected families. I still remember the moment I first met Lama at the airport in Beirut. I was first drawn towards her name, since she shares the same name as my only sister, and the name of the daughter I would have liked to have with my husband, who has left this world without a chance of bearing his children. We were travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the most emotional trip of my life. What I recognized during this trip, is her passion and empathy towards her work. Later on, I called this trip, the trip of our friendship, because I really feel that I am on a journey with her, searching for inner and outer peace. Our friendship grew quickly and Lama became not just a colleague, but a dear friend, and working on the issue of those who have gone missing in Syria was what brought us together. She was and still is very passionate about her work. She is a young Lebanese woman who is working on a sensitive and complex issue. 1 Foreward translated from Arabic by author. 7 Since I left Syria, Lama has become a source of safety and support away from my family and country. I found in her my new home, one that is filled with love, support, trust, and hope. Everything is beautiful about Lama, but this book was a turning point in the way I perceive her. My reading of this book was smooth and deep, as it discusses some of the most complex political and legal issues, in a poetic literary style, making me dive deeper with each word, each idea, and each feeling. I was stunned with the sources she consulted and the analysis of the Syrian conflict, wherein Lama has explained different types of violence, and different types of peace. She has looked at these issues from different angles including philosophy, psychology, sociology and international law. All of this to understand peace. Since I have read this book, it has become part of my daily conversation with family, friends and work colleagues. It deserves to be considered as an important reference in explaining and understanding the Syrian armed conflict. Lama has put so much effort and feelings into this book. She has shown her ability to hold space for diverging and sometimes opposing views without judgement. Her description and analysis is highly transparent, and stays away from judgement. What is evident in the book is her emotion for a burning country and an abused population. As a final note, I hope to walk alongside Lama in her noble work. I look up to her as an Arab woman and hope to learn from a woman who is 10 years younger than I. Beirut, August 2019 Noura Ghazi is a Syrian human rights lawyer. She has assisted over 1,000 detainees and has supported their families in Syria. She founded NoPhotozone Organization, a civil society organization which provides legal assistance and empowerment to detainees and their families. She is the author of a poetry book “Waiting…” (2015) which is dedicated to her late husband Bassel Khartabil who she married in 2012. Ghazi has spoken about human rights at the United Nations and the European Union and her work has been covered by BBC, the Telegraph, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Al Jazeera among others. Amnesty International named Ghazi as one of the “8 kick-ass women standing up for our rights.” She is on the advisory board of MENA Rights, and co-founder of Families for Freedom. 8 Acknowledgements Many people have read the manuscript for this book and offered me tremendous feedback. I especially thank Josefina Echavarría Álvarez and Noura Ghazi for their feedback on the content. I also thank my parents, sisters, and brother for their immeasurable support during the writing of this book. 9 Preface This book is part of the Master of Peace Series. It is primarily about the armed conflict in Syria. And it is also very much about me; how I relate to myself, which ultimately extends into how I relate to the Syrian conflict. It took me a while to put this work together and it offered me a chance to deeply reflect on the ways in which I understand peace and conflict. I had many concerns in the writing of this book, how it could be perceived and what it could mean to different people. In the end, this process has helped me see the relational aspects emanating within, and from the silhouettes of conflict. It also made me confront my own authorship. Not Syrian and yet drawn to write about Syria, demonstrating the mesh of my understanding and potential misunderstanding of the complex realities of the Syrian armed conflict. Ultimately, I wanted this book to address a multiplicity of authors since it tackles topics relating to international relations, sociology, philosophy, and of course, peace and conflict studies. I also sought to offer an understanding of Syria beyond the prevalent discourses of justice and security. This book does not aim to uncover a truth concerning the armed conflict in Syria or concerning the “Four Towns Agreement.” The aim is to simply put different viewpoints and discourses into conversation with each other, and listen. Really listen. What kind of perspectives emerge? The aim is also not to prescribe solutions. Instead, I aim to understand. What I hope to show is the human element entrenched in conflicts; found even in the disquieting feelings of otherness and the shrinking belonging of our wold. On a final note, I am grateful for you, my reader, for allowing me to share these ideas with you. These ideas are mixed with the stories of those who have enriched my life during the writing of this book. 11 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 16 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... 18 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 19 1.1. Author’s Perspective and Research Interest ................................................. 22 1.2. Research Interest ............................................................................................... 25 1.3. The “Four Towns Agreement” ....................................................................... 29 1.4. Elicitive Conflict Mapping ............................................................................... 31 1.4.1. Themes of Conflict ................................................................................. 31 1.4.2. Layers of Conflict .................................................................................... 34 1.4.3. Levels of Conflict .................................................................................... 36 1.5. State of the Art ..................................................................................................