Constructive ambiguity in Middle East peace-making

by Aaron S. Klieman

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

While constructive ambiguity often allows negotiating parties to get to the table, Klieman brilliantly argues that they must equally focus on getting up from the table, demonstrating how ambiguity actively works against this.

Klieman ends the book with a chilling statement:

Neither hypothetical, provisional “maybes” nor so-called “constructive” ambiguities are bought cheaply. You only need to pause over the mournful roll call of casualties, Arab and Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian, in order to realise this single enduring diplomatic truth: New diplomacy or old, precise or ambiguous - the diplomat continues to be “a man of his word”.