c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) As politicians try to jump start a new round of Middle East peace talks, one of the world’s foremost experts on negotiation is literally forging a new path to peace in the region.

William Ury, director of the Global Negotiation Project at Harvard University, is the visionary behind the Abraham Path Initiative (http://www.abrahampath.org). The idea is to bring Christians, Muslims, Jews and others together to walk in the footsteps of Abraham _ a figure revered in all three monotheistic faiths _ by charting the 700-mile route from his traditional birthplace in Turkey to his tomb in the West Bank.

Path organizers christened the first leg of the trip earlier this year by walking 12 kilometers to where the Bible says Abraham heard the voice of God. Ury discussed the initiative by phone from his Colorado office:

Q: What do you hope the Abraham Path will achieve?

A: We’re hoping this will actually help make the region safer because there are two choices for the Middle East, as we understand it: terrorism or tourism. There are 3 billion people on the planet who see this as their spiritual home. And tourism is the single biggest, viable economic growth sector that could actually create the long-term conditions for peace.

Q: When and how will the Abraham Path be launched?

A: I like to think it already exists. There are all these places in the Middle East associated with Abraham, where people have been revering and honoring his memory for thousands of years. So in some sense, we’re just connecting the dots. We’re hoping at some point that we’ll have an official launch or that people will walk the entire length, but that won’t be for some years.

Q: So the path begins in Turkey?

A: Yeah, in Southeastern Turkey, in Northern Mesopotamia. There’s a city there called Urfa, which is one of the contenders to be the original Ur, where Abraham came from. It has his birthplace _ his birth cave. Nearby are the ancient ruins of Haran. Genesis talks about Abraham setting off from Haran. That’s where he hears the voice of God saying, `set off and go forth.’

Q: Is the idea that people will really walk the entire 700-mile route at some point?

A: A lot of people will take tours down it. Some people will visit parts of it. Some of it will be used by schoolchildren. And a few intrepid people will try at some point to walk the whole thing.

Q: Has anyone walked the entire length yet?

A: No. A group of us did the route from Urfa, where he was born, to Hebron, where he’s buried, just to show that it could be done. That was in a bus. We did it because a lot of people were saying, `You can’t do this. You can’t cross those boundaries.’ So we took a group of 25 people from 10 different countries as a study tour to study the possibility, and we actually did it _ from womb to tomb, from birth cave to death cave.

Q: Won’t it be dangerous for tourists to try to walk or ride their bikes in these conflict-prone regions?

A: Well, yes, there is an issue of security. All I can say is that we did it. We encountered no problems. There may be certain parts of the path which, at times, might be dangerous. So we’re setting up a system of information so that at those times, you wouldn’t go to those dangerous parts. But there are millions of people who visit Turkey, and other parts of the path, and it turns out to be considerably safer than people think.

Q: If I were to travel the path today, would I be hard pressed to know what I’m looking at or to find a place to stay?

A: This is why it’s going to take years to develop. We’re doing it one segment at a time. It’s possible to take a bus down the whole path; there’s enough infrastructure for people in motorized transportation. We’re in the process of writing a guidebook. This is going to be a 10- or 15-year project, and we’re going to open up pieces of it bit by bit.

Q: Is there infrastructure evolving, from sign posts to hotels?

A: That’s our hope. Already in Urfa, they’ve opened up a brand new, state-of-the-art international airport. They’ve opened up new hotels. They’re improving their tourist infrastructure, and that’s happening at different parts of this path. And we’re hoping that the existence of this path and route will actually accelerate that infrastructure development and increase it.

Q: How will you measure whether the path is a success?

A: We’ll measure it by the experience and the numbers of people who travel the path. We’ll consider whether it generates social capital _ mutual understanding, mutual respect, and so on. We’ll measure it partially by job creation and the way that it creates sustainable economic development in the villages and towns along the way. And then we’ll measure it terms of publicity _ documentaries and articles that basically convey images of respect and the shared identity of the children of Abraham. We’ll be looking for positive media images of an area that only receives negative media images right now.

KRE/LF END MACDONALD