Two separate stories I read about recently highlight some important basic fundamental points about negotiation.

LESSON 1: Having a unified negotiating team is very important for success

The reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah back in May, discussed in this article (worldpress.org) makes it more likely that together they can achieve a constructive result in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. Individuals are often more intent on picking holes in their opponents on the same team, rather than focusing on the deal with the other side but a divided negotiating team rarely achieves anything.

LESSON 2: Both sides in a negotiation must want a negotiated outcome

There are a number of positive suggestions advanced in that same article which could help move negotiations between Palestine and Israel forward at some point, especially the so-called IPI which puts economic co-operation at its heart and the Parallel States project (two states occupying one country). However, the key, as it has always been, is to get both parties in a state where their key decision makers want peace more than war. Until that point is reached nothing further will be achieved.

LESSON 3: All stakeholders need to be present or represented with their consent for a negotiation to work

I read here (washingtonpost.com) that talks collapsed at the end of June between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh when both sides failed to accept the “Basic Priniciples” for a peace deal proposed by the ‘Minsk Group’ mediators.

Interestingly, Nagorno-Karabakh itself had not actually been involved in any of the discussions regarding its future. It’s a fairly extraordinary thought that a party which is the subject of a negotiation plays no part in its process. All parties with a vested interest need to be involved in any given negotiation; otherwise it’s too easy for the excluded party to say “no” to a solution negotiated by the other stakeholders.

LESSON 4: Don’t get involved in a negotiation unless you have a vested interest in its outcome

The US, France and the UK are all involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation, yet seemingly have no motivation to move it towards an outcome – what is the point of their involvement?