The Oslo people-to-people program and the limits of hegemony

Abstract

Reconciliation-based initiatives evoke a substantive and meaningful vision of peaceand suggest a form of peace building that is intimately engaged at the personal and social level.This article critically engages with a specific reconciliation initiative, the People-to-PeopleProgram (P2PP) that was applied to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It uses Gramscian conceptsof hegemony, consent, and war of position, with the intention of illustrating that the programfunctioned as a disciplinary or regulatory device that structured and realigned the agency of itsPalestinian participants. In highlighting the different features and dimensions of Palestiniansubversion and resistance, it brings out the limits of hegemony.