Unofficial Nonviolent Intervention: Examples from the Israeli—Palestinian Conflict

How can citizens of one country or region best intervene to affect the process and outcome of conflicts taking place in other parts of the world? Unofficial third party intervention by nonviolent means has often been too restricted in its focus and too frequently equated with direct physical intervention in the zone of conflict itself. Here a typology of different forms of unofficial nonviolent intervention is presented, based on three main criteria: geographical location, action style, and prime objective. Unofficial nonviolent intervention in the Israeli—Palestinian conflict by peace groups and others is drawn upon for illustration and as a vehicle for evaluating the relative effectiveness of different forms of interventionary action. The article concludes that the options for intervention are far wider than the extreme of sacrificial interpositionary action.