Judging the outcome of the peace process directly according to the situation that held when each phase began is an oversimplification. The choice to enter negotiations itself changed the dynamics of the violence. The violence would probably have proceeded in its absence, and probably at higher levels. The process itself may have engendered attacks, but the absence of a process might also have done so. Thus the real question is not whether violence went up or down over the course of the negotiations, but—a much more complex assessment—whether it was higher or lower than what it would have been
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