I suggested that India and Pakistan might both send representatives to Malta to take part in a preliminary ‘design conference’ on the Kashmir issue. The purpose of a ‘design conference’ is to put forward new concepts, new ideas, new possibilities and new alternatives. When negotiations then take place there is much more to work with. During the argument of negotiation there is little chance to generate new ideas since any suggestion is immediately seen as a judgement point.

There is a need for such a ‘design conference’ on the Israel/Palestine issue. Such conferences are intended to ‘enrich’ the thinking on the issue.

There is a mathematical need for new thinking in any system where information comes in over time and has to be fitted into existing concepts and feelings.

Edward de Bono