Israeli Perspectives on Alternative Dispute Resolution and Justice

Israel is a highly litigious country with an overburdened legal system infected with delays. In addition, Israeli society is highly diversified and saturated with social disagreements and rifts between groups. This article identifies two concepts of justice in ADR discourse in Israel—Justice as Efficiency and Justice Beyond Efficiency—and illustrates their application in the context of several ADR developments in the court system, community mediation, the education system, environmental conflicts, and complaints against public bodies. Using these visions of justice, the article explores the justice goals of ADR in Israel, assesses whether they have been achieved, and considers the future of ADR and Justice in Israel.

As the phenomena of overburdened legal systems and social disagreements are not restricted to Israel, the analysis of ADR and Justice offered in this article may be of relevance to other countries facing similar problems, including the United States and Europe.