Proximity Talks
Proximity talks are similar to shuttle diplomacy, in being a form of indirect negotiations in which the parties do not meet each other face to face but communicate only via a mediator going back and forth and passing proposals and counter-proposals. But unlike shuttle diplomacy, where the mediator goes back and forth between rival capital cities, in proxmity talks the two parties consent to have their negotiators in proximity to each other (for example, in two hotels at the same city), which facilitates the work of the mediator and shortens the time which he or she needs to travel back and forth.
A recent case of proximity talks involves the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas, carried out in October 2011 at the conclusion of five years of indirect negotiations. As extensively published in the Israeli media, but not officially confirmed, on several crucial occasions, Israeli and Hamas negotiators were both staying in Cairo, in close proximity to each other, though both officially refused to talk directly to the other. Instead, Egyptian and German mediators went from one to other, passing offers and counteroffer and finally achieving an agreement without Israelis and Palestinians ever meeting each other face to face.
Read more about this topic: Shuttle Diplomacy
Famous quotes containing the words proximity and/or talks:
“Our senses perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view. Too great length and too great brevity of discourse tends to obscurity; too much truth is paralyzing.... In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“I remember the almost daily talks of my mother on the cruelty of slavery. I would say nothing to her, but I was thinking all the time that slavery did not seem so cruel. Master and Mistress Jennings were not mean to my mother. It was she who was mean to them.”
—Cornelia (1844–?)