In my working career I was heavily involved in negotiations with a range of Trade Unions covering salaries, terms of employment, social matters etc.
As
is common in Western culture, entering into negotiations means a strategic discussion between two
parties to resolve an issue in a way that both find acceptable. Negotiations
can take place between buyers and sellers, employers and employees. This
implies that both sides are aware that there has to be give and take on both
sides.
According to Dr
Harold Rhode, an acknowledged expert in Arab culture, this
definition is not applicable in the Middle East. He writes “Periodically, the United States or Israel makes a concession to an
adversary, planning—or hoping—for reciprocity. The underlying assumption is
that, as the stronger party, they can afford to be generous and even, on
occasion, to miscalculate. This is a fundamental misreading, not of the
strength of the American or Israeli position, but of how the Muslim world will
understand the concession. In the Muslim world, only weak people make concessions.
An offer to compromise is a sign of weakness, encouraging those receiving one,
not only not to reciprocate, but to
increase the pressure against their adversaries. The frameworks are different.”
Simply put, in the Arab world,
if you haven’t won the battle, any concessions are a sign of weakness. For this
reason, we have seen the Iranians running rings around the various American
negotiators who have stuck to a strategy that is totally inappropriate. The
result has been that Iran has continued advancing its ambitions in the nuclear
field.
With the American weakness in
the eyes of the Arab states, they are losing trust in the US and already
considering alternatives, even discussions with Iran.. These same Arab states
want Israel to win because failure to do so can ultimately affect the stability
of some of these countries, for example Jordan and Lebanon, either of which
could be catastrophic for Israel .
In conclusion, Rhode writes “Sadly, we don’t understand how people in that part of the world think. And more importantly, we seem almost never interested in learning. And in this case, our policy is based on a misunderstanding of how Iran sees itself.
(Shi’ite)
Iran doesn’t want a “balanced” policy with its neighbors, or with the US. It is
pursuing a policy aimed at defeating and humiliating its Sunni Arab neighbors.
And America is helping it do so.”
