Conflict resolution, forgiveness and reconciliation in material and identity conflicts

Conflict resolution and reconciliation have recently attracted much attention from scholars of various disciplines. However, many questions remained unanswered: Are these two different processes? Do they fallow separate paths? What is the role of forgiveness in each of them? Is forgiveness a necessary condition for reconciliation between former enemies? Is it sufficient for bringing about real and stable peace between them? These questions were in the center of this paper. I have argued that conflict resolution and reconciliation are two separate, though not altogether different, processes that are geared to the termination of two different kinds of conflicts: a material conflict and an identity conflict. The paper has put forward a conceptual framework for analyzing these two prototypes and probed the specific role of forgiveness in each of the two processes. The main argument put forward was that identity conflicts, unlike material conflicts, need forgiveness and reconciliation in order to put an end to the conflict. Forgiveness is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for reconciliation in an identity conflict. The cases of Israel-West Germany and Israel-Egypt relations were used as illustrations. The Israeli-German case was brought as an example of an identity conflict that needed but did not reach the optimal phase of reconciliation via forgiveness. The Israeli-Egyptian case served as an example of a material conflict, which has reached the sub-optimal result of conflict resolution, with both sides-more particularly Israel - wishing to proceed towards reconciliation without feeling the need for asking or granting forgiveness. The examples substantiated the assumptions regarding the distinct processes of conflict resolution and reconciliation, and the special role of forgiveness in identity conflicts.