This past Saturday, Abi Breckinridge and I (due to lack of computers) played Peacemaker, a game made to simulate the rocky relations between Israel and Palestine. Thus, we were able to step into the shoes of the Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian President, taking turns playing each role, and had some interesting results. In short, had we been trying to maintain violence and suffering, then we would have won the game easily.
I must preface this first by saying that I have had very little experience in my life playing simulation-type games. I don't really know why; I just haven't gotten into them, plain and simple. With that said, it took me a bit of time to get into the game, but after getting accustomed to the gameplay and such, I did have a bit of fun. Although, as I alluded to before, based on the way things played out for me in the game, fun would not have been something to be had if I were to have been playing in real life. Indeed, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is just as volatile on the computer as it is in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Every move I made, whether it was a missile strike on the headquarters of Hamas or an attempt to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians, got me nowhere. Sure my decisions were praised by some, but inevitably, there was just as much opposition (if not more) to each and every act I carried out.
What I learned from the game is that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not at all a simple affair between simple actors and able to be solved with easy solutions. In fact, many factions have roles, and I thought the game was good in demonstrating that. I didn't just have to worry about Israel and Palestine; I had to worry about the wants of the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Fatah, the Israeli government, the UN, the US, Israeli and Palestinian police units, individuals like suicide bombers, settlement workers, and civilians, and numerous other entities. As with most things, it was absolutely impossible to please all of them at once and almost just as hard to know what kinds of acts would please each individual group separately. When I thought I knew what I was doing (like providing medical aid to improve humanitarian conditions in refugee camps), my plans never seemed to "impress" the right people, get enough funding, or just plain work. No matter what I did, it felt as though there was some group or organization who could stop it, and stop it they did.
This gridlock made me feel more cynical about the prospects for peace between the two sides. Even when playing the game on the "calm" level-setting, approval ratings quickly went down and tensions rose just as quickly. Maybe this speaks more to my ability as a negotiator of peace as opposed to the situation between Israel and Palestine, but it just felt as though no one was willing to work with the other side or even within its own camp, for that matter. Conflict is all these sides know, and that is how it'll stay (at least for the foreseeable future). Whether or not that was the lesson I was supposed to glean, it certainly seemed that way based on what happened in the game.
In regards to Peacemaker as a learning tool, I think it was pretty good. It didn't do much teaching on the history of the conflict, but I also don't think that the makers sought to do this when creating the game. However, the game did help me to learn all the factions playing roles in the conflict. Prior to playing, I didn't really realize that there were so many groups and organizations who had such significant influences on the efforts for/against peace. Not only that, but it surprised me a bit (and perhaps should not have) that those small groups of people had such conviction in their beliefs (in terms of believing what is best for their people) to undermine their leaders and the overall peace process. Essentially, the game helped me to understand that not only do the two sides disagree on who should own what land and how it should be divided but that there is disagreement within each camp in regards to how the ruling bodies should approach negotiations.
It goes without saying that this endeavor was a frustrating one, but I truly cannot begin to imagine how frustrating, even maddening, it is for those actually involved. I take my possessions and privileges as an American citizen for granted, day in and day out. But for Israelis and Palestinians, citizenship/statehood is such a huge deal. Both sides want it, but neither wants to recognize the other's right to have it. It's without a doubt a tragic state of affairs.
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