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Gabrielle Rifkind
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Name
Gabrielle Rifkind
Books
The Fog of Peace: The Human F, Making Terrorism History, Three Voices of Art Thera, Hearts and Minds: Human S, Three Voices of Art Thera
Gabrielle Rifkind (born 1953) is a practising psychotherapist and group analyst, who works in conflict resolution in the Middle East. Much of her special contribution is around the role of human motivation and behaviour in resolving conflict.
She directs the Oxford Process for the Oxford Research Group, an NGO which works to promote a more sustainable approach to security and is one of the leading UK advocates of non-military resolution of global conflict. It combines in-depth political and technical expertise with many years' experience in promoting serious analysis and dialogue.
A political entrepreneur, Rifkind has, over the last decade, created a number of quiet behind-the-scenes round-table discussions, often between groups who are not currently in dialogue in the Middle East. Her special areas of interest are Iran and the Palestine-Israel conflict. Her particular areas of expertise are the creation of suitable environments for negotiations and addressing the historical traumas and mistrust of the parties involved to avoid disruption of talks. Rifkind believes that creating a coherent and sustained framework is essential for any kind of negotiation, as it allows to deal not only with substance but also with the suspicions that sits in the way of the resolution of conflict.
A graduate of the University of Manchester and postgraduate of the University of Edinburgh, Rifkind lives in London and makes regular contributions to the media, e.g. for The Guardian, The Independent and BBC Radio 4. She has appeared on various news and political analysis programmes, has given many public lectures and engaged in debates at venues ranging from the Oxford Union ( "Time to talk to Hamas?") and the House of Commons to Chatham House and Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
She is author, with Scilla Elworthy, of Making Terrorism History (Random House, 2005) and, with Giandomenico Picco, of The Fog of Peace: How to Prevent War (I.B. Tauris, 2016).
Publications
Language of war, language of peace and its application to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Psychotherapy and Politics International, June 2004, Volume 2, Issue 2, pp115–122
Co-author, Making Terrorism History, Random House, London, 2005
'Separating aspirations from realities', The Jerusalem Post, 1 May 2006
'No matter what Israel and Hamas do to each other, the solution won't be rational', The Independent, 16 July 2006
'What Lies Beneath the Rhetoric', Ha'aretz, 12 December 2006
'Want to ease tensions with Iran? Just try talking', The Independent, 13 February 2007
'From Crisis to Opportunity', The Jerusalem Post, February 2007
'A Standing Conference Table: A Process for Sustainable Peace in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict’, Oxford Research Group, July 2007 [1]
'This dialogue of the deaf is making war more likely', The Independent, 28 October 2007
'Western diplomacy and psychology', Therapy Today, November 2007
'The Arab Peace Initiative: Why Now?, Oxford Research Group, November 2008. A report following the Oxford Research Group roundtable on ‘The Arab Peace Initiative as a possible exit from the current impasse – the role of the international community’ at Charney Manor in Oxfordshire on 15–17 October 2008
'The man to sell peace to the Middle East', The Independent, 24 January 2009
'A route to resolution for Syria and Israel', The Guardian, 26 February 2010
'Pariahs to Pioneers' Oxford Research Group, May 2010
'Solving the West Bank settler problem', The Guardian, September 2010
'Iran nuclear talks: signs of cautious optimism emerge', The Guardian, May 2012
'To help Syria, talk first to Iran and Saudi Arabia', The Guardian, February 2013
'A New Levant: a possible way through in the Syrian Crisis', openDemocracy, February 2013
'One Signature by Assad Could Help to Avert the Bombing', The Times, September 2013
'Our war-torn world needs a new mediating body to resolve conflicts', The Guardian, March 2014
'The fog of war: it is hard to think about peace', openDemocracy, July 2014
'The new great regional game: Saudi Arabia and Iran', openDemocracy, July 2014
'Alternatives to military intervention: a commando team of mediators', openDemocracy, September 2014
'Britain needn't withdraw from the world stage, but we need a vision', The Independent, May 2015
'We need to defeat Islamic State – but how?', openDemocracy, December 2015
'Chilcot tells us what we already knew – how do we implement?', openDemocracy, July 2016
'We need emotional and political intelligence in politics', Jewish Chronicle, July 2016
'Chilcot: all peaceful options were not exhausted', openDemocracy, July 2016
Co-Author, 'The Fog of Peace: How to Prevent War', I.B. Tauris, 2016.
