Foreword

The reader has in his or her hands a book covering a rather important theme in our age: the relation between states and nations, with civil society as an intervening, in-between factor, often using human rights to bolster its cause. The cases chosen are certainly filled with human drama: Israel versus Palestine, Cyprus Greek versus Cyprus Turkish, Turkey versus Kurds, and the whole Bosnia-Herzegovina conglomerate. Having worked on about 30 such cases, including these four, trying to mediate (see my book 50 Years: 100 Peace & Conflict Perspectives, TRANSCEND University Press, 2008, www.transcend.org/tup), the authors have kindly asked me to contribute to this impressive study with a foreword outlining how I see the issue.

Related Subject(s): Human Rights and Refugees