As I hear about all the news in Israel and Gaza, I can’t help but think how sortition might help. What do people have to lose by trying something different after decades of failed peace talks? I’m just some rando on the internet but here is my modest proposal:
Create a Citizens Assembly for Peace
Construct an assembly of about 500 Israeli and Palestinian citizens. This assembly will not be strictly democratic; instead, it will be composed of 50% Israelis and 50% Palestinians. Delegates will be chosen by lottery and with some stratification if desired.
Require that all citizen delegates swear an oath of nonviolence while participating in the assembly. Any delegate that violently attacks another delegate will be thrown out and prosecuted.
Making a decision
- To immediately ratify a proposal, at least 65% of the Israeli side and 65% of the Palestinian side must ratify the proposal.
- To eventually ratify a proposal, at least 51% of the Israeli side and 51% of the Palestinian side must ratify the proposal. Proposals with only this double-majority support (51% and 51%) must be re-affirmed by a subsequent Citizens’ Assembly, with new delegates, called in one years time.
Participation from Governments and Authorities
Israeli government officials, military officials, Hamas officials, PLO officials, UN officials, etc. would be invited to participate with guarantees they will not be arrested or attacked at the peace talks. These officials will have NO agenda setting power and NO voting power. They will have the power to speak and be heard. They will have the power to submit proposals for consideration and submit amendments for consideration.
To enforce the peace, some international 3rd party will have to broker this participation as well as maintain security. Extreme security measures will need to be made to protect the delegates as they become targets for extremists.
A Requirement of Fraternization
Israeli and Palestinian participants are required to fraternize with one another. The delegates will be split into small group sessions with a random mix of the two sides of various proportions, with around 10 delegates per small group. Group compositions will be changing from time to time to encourage co-mingling with many different people. Multiple translators should be available for each small group to facilitate communication.
The timetable for peace
We can schedule at least 6 months of peace talks, where proposals can be made, submitted, ratified, then amended, and ratified again. All participants will be well paid for their participation and their needs taken care of. Participants can extend the talks up to 3 years, after which a new Assembly with new participants will be convened to continue the work of the previous. Is 3 years too long? I don’t know, yet it still seems quite short compared to the literal decades of conflict that precede the talks.
The pipedream of peace
This is a pipedream, because I doubt the Israeli government and the PLO and Hamas and anyone else would ever cede away their power and authority to a bunch of randos. The logistics of performing a citizens’ lottery will also be incredibly difficult, when nobody’s safety is guaranteed in a time of war. Finding an organization that is capable and willing to carry out the lottery in multiple disputed territories would be challenging. And with logistical hurdles will come a heavy financial cost to host the assembly. Yet if a Citizens’ Assembly could be formed, the Citizens’ Assembly might be able to spark some hope that yes, the Israelis and Palestinian can find common ground, even if the politicians and generals cannot. And if the Citizens’ Assembly fails, that’s just one more round of failures after decades of failure.
Let us even imagine the worst-case scenario, where the Israelis and Palestinians cannot find any common ground. If nothing else, the Citizens’ Assembly then allows us to understand what the people of Israel and Palestine really want.
Adam Cronkright
Ali
Ahmed R. Teleb
avanderven
avergne
Alex Kovner
azakaras
Brett Hennig
campbellwallace
Simon Threlkeld
Nick Coccoma
codyhipskind
Common Lot Sortitionist
Conall Boyle
constitutionalism
davidschecter
graytmatter
gtridimas
H.J. Hofkirchner
John Burnheim
jgarry20151
Jochen Krattenmacher
johnedwardtaylor
johnhuang865
Jonathan Crock
keithsutherland
Jacob Richter
kkoreilly
lukewhito
SimonPek
Nathan El
Nicholas Gruen
Owen Shaffer
Patrick Chalmers
Paul Gölz
peterstone
Pierre-Etienne Vandamme
pronfeld
Emil
rcaze
richwbrown
Roger Knights
roslynfuller
Pierre-Etienne Vandamme
shaharavin
tbouricius
Ted Wachtel
Joshua Laferriere
theodorestathis
towardsautonomyblog
Wayne Liebman
Yoram Gat
Oliver Milne
Equality by lot 
I fear that—at least—as long as Hamas won’t release its hostages, there is no plan B to breaking and removing it by military force. Afterwards, this proposal might be a good first step. I made a similar one for a permanent lottocracy five years ago (in German):
👉 Same for Iran: https://socialkairos.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/iran-democracy/
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Here, as in other important situations, an allotted body should let a population express it ideas, and thus it would be a desirable institution. As to the outcome of the specific proposal here, I think that, unfortunately, there is not enough common ground between Israelis and Palestinians to allow consensual decisions. The existing disequilibrium of power, in which Israel possesses overwhelming force and uses it to dispossess the Palestinians is not something that a majority of Israelis are likely to give up (Israeli governments and Israeli popular opinion never have). A set up in which the Israelis have a veto on any change is thus very likely lead to a maintenance of the status quo. It seems to me that any change would require a change in the external balance of power. Only if the West (meaning by and large, the U.S.) stops sponsoring the status quo will there be a likelihood that a resolution can be achieved.
> I fear that—at least—as long as Hamas won’t release its hostages, there is no plan B to breaking and removing it by military force.
It was indeed the attack by Hamas which eliminated this plan B – a complete disregard of the fate of the Palestinians, a plan that was being carried out by Israel and the West up until Oct. 7th. But of course there is a plan C – a recognition of the interests of the Palestinians as being of equal validity and status as those of the Israelis. It is this plan C which is never considered, neither when the Palestinians attack, in which case they are described as being too violent and abhorrent to deal with, nor when they do not attack, in which case they can be safely ignored.
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