Interestingly Israeli/Palestinian peace has been structured in terms of negotiations which essentially aim at the territorial separation of these two peoples. While not always clear, the resolution offered appears to be the (re)construction of a homogenised relationship between identity (people) and place. The present impasse, framed as a struggle for 'security' and 'sovereignty', continues this segregated view of the future articulated through a discourse on war rather than peace. Recurrent violence underlines the institutional fragility of the project of separation which seeks to create a 'walled' state as the basis for regional security. There has been little attempt in the official peace process to address issues of historical justice or reconciliation through a public and personal exchange of what people have actually experienced. The growing international fashion for reconciliation seems to be missing from the official Israeli/Palestinian peace equation. This paper explores the possibility of extending community and local activities for reconciliation to create alternative foundations for imagining a different future. It looks at the possibilities of creating a 'truth commission' like forum, which addresses the personal legacies of the war and loss of both the Israelis and the Palestinians in order that both sides collectively witness the lived consequences of the past 50 years and more. It argues that this could create more attentive audiences, locally and internationally, which would have to face up to different narrative resolutions of the conflict and create a different source of impetus for dialogue and reconciliation. In the process the paper also addresses the limitations of the idea of 'national reconciliation', exploring the question of public morality as a transnational concern rather than merely a national one.
