Where East not always meets West: Comparing the Sulha process to Western‐style mediation and arbitration

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.20028
• Date: 01 June 2011
• Author: Doron Pely
• Published date: 01 June 2011

Where East Not Always Meets West:Comparing

the Sulha Process to Western-Style Mediation

and Arbitration

Doron Pely

The author uses literature and interviews to compare elements of the

Muslim inter-clan, mixed-mode mediation and arbitration tradition of

Sulha in Israel’s Arab community with comparable elements of Western-

style mediation and arbitration practices. The author uncovers and

analyzes the similarities and differences between specific Western-style

and Sulha mediation and arbitration elements, such as confidentiality,

venting, and neutrality. Such insights may be helpful when considering

possible synergies and points of divergence between Muslim and West-

ern dispute-resolution practices.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a generic term referring to var-

ious means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom, such as con-

ciliation, facilitation, negotiation, neutral evaluation, mediation, and

arbitration, among others (Abu-Nimer, 1996; Barrett and Barrett, 2004).

Some Western ADR practices, such as arbitration and mediation,

evolved over the years into distinct and separate approaches. Disputants

who choose (or are instructed) to seek a solution outside the courtroom

can make use of one of these separately available methods.

In contrast, Sulha, a traditional Middle Eastern inter- and intra-clan

customary justice process, dating back to a pre-Islamic period (Jabbour,

1993; Othman, 2007), makes use of a unique mix of local variants

of mediation and arbitration techniques to facilitate the transformation of

inter- and intracommunal disputes from a desire for revenge to an hon-

orable willingness to forgive, a process that in many cases effectively

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, vol. 28, no. 4, Summer 2011 427

© Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the Association for Conflict Resolution

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.20028