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Best-In-Class Negotiation Case Studies You Can Use to Train

How to teach negotiation skills using negotiation case studies..

By Lara SanPietro — on May 16th, 2019 / Teaching Negotiation

What’s one of the best ways to teach the art and science of conflict resolution? With negotiation case studies that spark lively discussion or facilitate self-reflection. Based on real-world examples, these teaching resources are designed to help students envision how to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and beyond.

Great Negotiation Case Studies

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School bestows this prestigious honor on distinguished leaders whose lifelong accomplishments in the field of dispute resolution and negotiation have had compelling and lasting results. A number of Great Negotiation case studies also offer additional video material featuring detailed interviews with award recipients.

Text-Based Great Negotiation Cases Include:

• Tommy Koh – The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (2014) Designed to help students examine complex multi-party negotiations across multiple fronts, exploring strategies for sustained assessment of barriers in a negotiation campaign. The A case establishes the background for negotiation and the B case discusses Koh’s efforts to reach an agreement.
• Lakhdar Brahimi – Negotiating a New Government for Afghanistan (2002) Examines former U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s involvement in negotiating an interim Afghani government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
• Stuart Eizenstat – Negotiating the Final Accounts of World War II (2003) Examines former EU Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat’s career as a negotiator, with special emphasis on his work negotiating reparations for victims of the Holocaust.
• Charlene Barshefsky – Negotiating a Trade Agreement with China (2001) Describes the challenges former United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky faced in negotiating a trade agreement with China to improve its domestic intellectual property rights enforcement regime.
• George Mitchell – In Northern Ireland “To Hell with the Future, Let’s Get On With the Past” (2000) Examines the strategies and tactics used by U.S. negotiator George Mitchell during his two-year tenure as chairman of the all-party talks in Northern Ireland between 1996 and 1998. His efforts culminated in the signing of the historic Good Friday Accords.

Video-Based Great Negotiator Cases Include:

Claim your FREE copy: Teaching Negotiation

Discover the insights you need to deliver the most effective role-play simulations in this free special report, Teaching Negotiation: Understanding The Impact Of Role-Play Simulations , from Harvard Law School.

TNRC’s Newest Negotiation  Case Study

• A Green Victory Against Great Odds, But Was It Too Little Too Late? Provides an in-depth view of the major US nonprofit environmental groups that advocated throughout 2007 for a bill that would address vehicle pollution, electricity pollution, and other areas contributing to global climate change. See our recent Q&A with Author Gina Coplon-Newfield for more information.

Best-In-Class Negotiation  Case Studies

• Negotiating About Pandas for San Diego Zo o Centers on the most challenging task for a negotiator: to reach a satisfactory agreement with a tough counterpart from a position of low power—and to do so in an uncommon context. The case concerns the executive director of a zoo in the U.S. who seeks two giant pandas. This majestic endangered species is available from only one source on the planet: China.
• The Mariyinsky Palace Negotiations Focuses on the negotiations to resolve the political crisis caused by the disputed 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. These negotiations culminated in an unprecedented second runoff election and a victory for the opposition Viktor Yushchenko.
• Negotiating a Template for Labor Standards Tracks the negotiation of the labor provisions in the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement signed into law on January 1, 2004. It draws upon a range of published and unpublished sources and interviews with some of the primary players to give a true inside look into a challenging international negotiation.

Take your training to the next level with the TNRC

The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center offers a wide range of effective teaching materials, including

• Over 200 role-play simulations
• Critical negotiation case studies
• Enlightening periodicals
• More than 30 videos
• 100-plus books

Most TNRC materials are designed for educational purposes— for use in college classrooms or corporate training settings. TNRC cases and exercises help mediators and facilitators introduce their clients to a process or issue and help individuals who want to enhance their negotiation skills and knowledge .

Negotiation case studies introduce participants to new negotiation and dispute resolution tools, techniques and strategies. Videos are also a helpful way of introducing viewers to key concepts, and TNRC books , role-play simulations , and periodicals address the theory and practice of negotiation and conflict management.

Are there any negotiation case studies that have helped you? Share them in the comments.

Check out all that the TNRC has in store >>

Related Posts

• Teaching the Fundamentals: The Best Introductory Negotiation Role Play Simulations
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Preparing for negotiation.

Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. This discussion was held at the 3 day executive education workshop for senior executives at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Guhan Subramanian is the Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School.

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Rethinking Negotiation

• Barry Nalebuff
• Adam Brandenburger

For decades, negotiators have been working out agreements by focusing on interests, not positions. But the messy problem of how to share the gains created by deals has remained unresolved—until now. The answer, argue Yale’s Nalebuff and NYU’s Brandenburger, lies in accurately identifying and sizing the negotiation “pie,” which they define as the additional value produced by an agreement to work together. It’s the value over and above the sum of the two sides’ best alternatives to a negotiated agreement, or BATNAs.

The pie most people have in their heads, however, is the total value available to be split. Because of this, they argue over the wrong numbers and issues, taking positions that they think are reasonable but that are in fact self-interested.

Once the pie is properly understood, the allocation rule is simple: The parties in a negotiation have an equal claim on the pie, so it should be divided evenly. This is true regardless of what they can accomplish on their own, because both are equally needed to create the gains. This principle can be applied in a variety of increasingly complicated real-world scenarios, which the authors walk readers through in this article.

A smarter way to split the pie

Idea in Brief

The problem.

People don’t understand what’s really at stake in a negotiation. Their misconceptions make it much harder to reach an agreement.

Why It Happens

Negotiators focus on the total amount to be divided, not on the value created by an agreement. That leads to conflicting views on power and fairness.

The Solution

Recognize that the gains to be shared are the additional value the agreement creates over and above the sum of the two sides’ best alternatives. This negotiation pie should be divided equally, because both sides are equally essential to creating it.

Negotiation is stressful. A great deal is at stake: money, opportunity, time, relationships, reputations. Often that brings out the worst in people as they attempt to take advantage of the other side or try to look tough. So wouldn’t we all be better off if there was a way to treat people fairly in a negotiation and get treated fairly in return? In the following pages we’ll offer a simple, practical, field-tested approach that enables you to do just that.

• Barry Nalebuff is the Milton Steinbach Professor at Yale School of Management and a cofounder of Honest Tea.
• Adam Brandenburger is the J.P. Valles Professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, distinguished professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and faculty director of the Program on Creativity and Innovation at NYU Shanghai.

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Ethics in Negotiation: Why They Matter and How to Incorporate Them

If “negotiation is the art of letting them have your way”, how should you go about it? Should you play your cards close to your chest and see what you can get away with, or should you be transparent and stick to your values? In the world of negotiation, ethics matter. Not only do ethical business practices build trust and credibility, but they also set the groundwork for a lasting relationship between parties. 

The Negative Consequences of Unethical Behavior

When one party in a negotiation engages in unethical behavior, it can sour the entire interaction. For example, let's say that you're negotiating a contract with a potential client. You quote a market-value price, and they counter with an offer that is significantly (and not-credibly) lower. You counteroffer, but they refuse to budge. Finally, they reveal that they have another company willing to do the work for a lower price and threaten to take their business elsewhere if you don't lower your price to match.

If you cave and lower your price, you may be able to close the deal, but you've just established a precedent that you're willing to bend over backward to close a sale. If the client ever has another project in the future, they may come back expecting the same concession. Furthermore, if they already had someone ready to do the work for a lower rate, why are they speaking with you? What part of this interaction is true and which parts were designed to manipulate you? Why only tell you when the terms aren't overwhelmingly favorable to them?

This interaction isn’t uncommon. And when someone is acting in ways that damage their credibility and showcase only their desire to help themselves, not to mention the threat of taking all your business away, it should cause red flags. 

The Role of Trust and Transparency

Trust and transparency are critical components of any negotiation. When both sides share information and are honest about their interests and limitations, they can achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. By contrast, if one party suspects that the other is hiding something or trying to take advantage of them, they may become defensive and less willing to compromise.

One way to build trust and transparency is to be clear about your intentions and to stick to your word. Don't make promises that you can't deliver on or say one thing and do another. Also, communication is key – be sure to keep all parties informed about any changes in the negotiation process or any new information that may affect the outcome.

Does that mean you’re transparent about everything? Absolutely not. Of course you’ll hold info back. But communicating clearly, following through on your commitments, and being clear with your intent will build trust. 

Ethical Dilemmas in Negotiation

Negotiation involves making tradeoffs and making choices that involve ethical considerations. Here are some ethical dilemmas that negotiators may face:

Honesty vs. Loyalty: Suppose you're negotiating with your boss for a promotion. They ask you what your salary expectations are, and you reply with a figure that is higher than what the company is willing to pay. You know that your boss is under pressure to stay within budget, but you feel that you deserve to be paid what you're worth. Do you stick to your guns and risk losing the promotion, or do you compromise to show your loyalty to the company?

Fairness vs. Self-Interest: Let's say that you're negotiating a partnership agreement with a potential business partner. You know that there is a clause in the agreement that could significantly benefit your company, but you also know that it would be unfair to your partner. Do you try to push the clause through, or do you act ethically and work to find a reasonable solution?

Transparency vs. Confidentiality: Suppose you're dealing with a client who wants you to disclose confidential information about a competitor. They argue that the information is essential to the negotiation and that it's in both of your best interests to share it. However, you know that disclosing the information would be unethical. Do you risk losing the deal, or do you keep your ethical standards intact?

The key is to consider the long-term ramifications of your choices and to think about how your decisions will affect your reputation and your relationships with others involved in the negotiation.

Tips for Maintaining Ethical Standards

Here are some tips for maintaining ethical standards in negotiation:

Prepare thoroughly: Before entering into a negotiation, research all parties involved and the overall context of the deal. This will help you avoid any surprises and be better prepared to maintain your ethical positions.

Know your values: Be clear about your values and what lines you're not willing to cross. This will make it easier to stay consistent throughout the negotiation process.

Be respectful: Treat all parties with respect and avoid making personal attacks or insults. This will help ensure that all parties feel comfortable and respected throughout the process.

Listen actively: Listen carefully to all parties involved and try to understand their needs and interests. This will help facilitate respectful negotiations that aim for mutual benefit.

Seek mutually beneficial options: Focus on finding solutions that meet the needs and interests of all parties involved. This will help ensure that everyone feels that they've been treated fairly and will be more likely to maintain a good relationship after the negotiation is over.

Ethics matter in negotiation because they build trust, set the groundwork for lasting relationships, and establish a positive reputation. To maintain ethical standards, it's essential to be well-prepared, clear about your values, and respectful of all parties involved. By seeking win-win solutions and avoiding ethical dilemmas, you'll be able to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome that's sustainable over the long term. Remember, negotiation doesn't always have to be a zero-sum game – it's possible for everyone involved to come out ahead if you approach the process ethically.

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7 (page 113) p. 113 Ethical and legal issues in negotiation: Making enforceable agreements

• Published: September 2022
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This chapter discusses major ethical issues in negotiation: at a macro-level, when should we not negotiate, when is any form of compromise or bargaining not warranted (e.g. in situations of unfairness or evil), when is compromise and agreement a morally good thing? The chapter then focuses on micro-behavioral ethical issues in negotiation—when is deception/lying permitted or prohibited in negotiation; the law of fraud and misrepresentation, what tactics are considered inappropriate in negotiation—e.g. taking advantage of other parties’ weaknesses, lack of resources, etc. What are the legal requirements for enforceable agreements, which are formally contracts or at the international level treaties. Are we responsible for the agreements we make with others that may affect others outside of our negotiations (e.g. future generations, employees, other family members)?

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Negotiating Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy lawyer Gellene successfully represented a mining company during a major reorganization, but failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

John Gellene, a bankruptcy lawyer at the law firm Milbank Tweed, worked directly under Wall Street attorney Larry Lederman. In 1994, Lederman asked Gellene to represent mining equipment company Bucyrus-Erie (BE) in a reorganization bankruptcy that became increasingly complicated.

In an attempt to initially ward off bankruptcy, BE had, pursuant to the legal advice of Milbank Tweed and the financial advice of Goldman Sachs, accepted a $35 million infusion of cash from an investment fund called South Street. In exchange, BE gave South Street a lien on all of the company’s manufacturing equipment, putting it ahead of other BE creditors, including Jackson National Life (JNL). JNL was BE’s largest single creditor, but was unsecured. BE had posted no collateral in return for JNL’s loan, so JNL was in line in bankruptcy court behind all of BE’s creditors that had demanded collateral. South Street was controlled by Mikael Salovaara, a former Goldman Sachs banker who had previously provided financial advice to BE and was advised by Lederman.

When Gellene filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on behalf of BE, he was required to ask the court to appoint him and Milbank Tweed as BE’s counsel for purposes of the proceedings. At that time, he filed documents under oath that were supposed to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that Milbank Tweed had in the proceedings. For reasons unknown, Gellene did not disclose to the bankruptcy judge (who would appoint counsel) the fact that Milbank Tweed was representing both South Street and Salovaara regarding various matters.

Legal scholars and attorneys reflecting on this case years later have speculated as to why Gellene did not disclose what might seem to be obvious connections that could be potential conflicts of interest for Milbank Tweed. Lawyer Steve Sather suggests that the lack of disclosure may have been inadvertent, or that Gellene did not see the connections as inherent conflicts, among other possible reasons.

Regardless, Gellene did successfully guide BE through the reorganization process. The failure to disclose was not discovered until years later by JNL, which then sued Milbank Tweed. Criminal charges were filed against Gellene for three felony counts of making false statements under oath in regard to Milbank Tweed’s ability to serve as bankruptcy counsel. Gellene was convicted and sent to prison for 15 months.

Discussion Questions

1. What concepts from the video  Intro to Behavioral Ethics  are apparent in this case study?

2. Why might the connections among Milbank Tweed, South Street, and Salovaara be conflicts of interest? Why not? Explain your reasoning.

3. Does it seem irrational for an attorney who has a very promising legal career to not disclose potential conflicts of interest? If you were in Gellene’s position, what would you have done? Why?

4. At sentencing, the prosecutor in the Gellene criminal case said that he had prosecuted many bad people over the years, but admitted “John Gellene isn’t a bad guy.” The prosecutor said it made him nauseous to see how hard Gellene had been working and suggested that Gellene was “overstressed and overworked.” Is that an explanation for Gellene’s actions in the BE reorganization? Why or why not?

5. Gellene had opportunities to correct his errors before they came to light, but did not. How would you evaluate the following statement from Gellene:

“I’ve been recognized as a person with gifts in terms of my intellect and my ability to deal with problems and I’ve been very good and very competent at the kinds of problems presented [by] my clients in the practice of law… And that is I think such a part of me and who I hold myself out to be and who I am that when I am confronted with a mistake, an act of inadvertence that is stupid that I’m—it is very difficult for me to stand up and say I did a stupid thing.”

6. What do you think of the following statement by the judge in the Gellene criminal case:

“I have a substantial amount of contact with my colleagues in law firms to appreciate that there are incredible pressures in this area that, frankly, sooner rather than later are going to have to be addressed or we are going to see more cases of this nature being prosecuted for criminal conduct because lawyers are so focused on other matters… [W]hen they become so focused to the exclusion of ethical considerations, that is when the entire system breaks down, the public at large is ever more distrustful.”

7. Based on the two statements above, where do you think the blame primarily lies and why? With Gellene individually, or with the system within which he operated? Explain your reasoning.

Related Videos

Intro to Behavioral Ethics

Behavioral Ethics investigates why people make the ethical (and unethical) decisions that they do in order to gain insights into how people can improve their ethical decision-making and behavior.

Bibliography

How Will You Measure Your Life?  http://www.worldcat.org/title/how-will-you-measure-your-life/oclc/757483347

The Collapse of Barings http://www.worldcat.org/title/collapse-of-barings/oclc/35658104

Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Lie More to Avoid a Loss http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2502819

Rogue Trader: How I Brought Down Barings Bank and Shook the Financial World  http://www.worldcat.org/title/rogue-trader-how-i-brought-down-barings-bank-and-shook-the-financial-world/oclc/34262021

How Nick Leeson Caused the Collapse of Barings Bank  http://www.next-finance.net/How-Nick-Leeson-caused-the

Total Risk: Nick Leeson and the Fall of Barings Bank http://www.worldcat.org/title/total-risk-nick-leeson-and-the-fall-of-barings-bank/oclc/33275953

Eat What You Kill: The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer  http://www.worldcat.org/title/eat-what-you-kill-the-fall-of-a-wall-street-lawyer/oclc/649743120

Barings Collapse at 20: How Rogue Trader Nick Leeson Broke the Bank  https://www.theguardian.com/business/from-the-archive-blog/2015/feb/24/nick-leeson-barings-bank-1995-20-archive

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Ethics and Negotiation – Case study

Licks et al 2003) According to Sees (1955), advocates of the ‘absolutist’ position hold a rigid view of what Is right and wrong.

In contrast, a ‘relativist’ approach would suggest ethical behavior be contingent In nature, therefore having no set definition of what Is right and wrong. History is fraught with examples of unethical behavior, from Nazi Germany of 1945 to recent atrocities in the Balkans and Rwanda. However, in those instances there was no negotiation involved. There are also numerous examples of unethical behavior adopted in negotiation that have occurred in modern society.

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These have ranged from large scale unethical business Issues such as the recent BP Texas refinery’s failure on safety provisions; Patriot’s wharf workers Incident and the Hardier asbestos compensation dispute; to smaller everyday unscrupulous business dealings. Research into ethics and negotiation is primarily focused towards examining the standard of truth.

(Lacked et al 2003) Attempting to define truth’ raises a number of controversial Issues. For example, ‘what constitutes a lie? ‘ and ‘are there situations where not telling the truth may be considered acceptable, or even accessory? (Licks et al 2003: up. 1 67) The inherent competitive nature of most negotiating situations would suggest a certain degree of deceptive behavior was a necessary component of negotiating. (Friedman & Shapiro 1995) Thus ethical negotiation becomes a question of delightfulness those behaviors which are deemed acceptable from those which are unacceptable. Negotiators need to be aware of the implications of their behavior as failure to adhere to established ethical conventions may ultimately result in undesirable consequences. (Sees, 1955) Ethics In Negotiation

Eleven Tanat International Is a major source AT power In negotiation It Is not Doolittle to understand why negotiators may be attracted to deceptive behaviors.

Ultimately the party who acquires information of the highest quality or uses it more persuasively will have a significant advantage over their opponent. (Licks et al 2003) By engaging in deceptive behavior negotiators can manipulate information to the advantage of their own self-interest. (Sees, 1955) For example negotiators often present inaccurate or misleading information in an attempt to alter their opponent’s perceptions, references and priorities. Licks et. Al.

2003) Other examples of deceptive behavior include: bluffing, exaggerations and concealment. Lack of responsibility for ones actions is a significant concern with respect to unethical behavior in negotiations. (Byrne, 1987) It is quite often the case that negotiators will attempt to Justify their use of unethical behavior by shifting the focus to the other party. For example a negotiator may perceive the other side to have adopted a competitive approach, therefore the use of unethical tactics is justified in their minds as a necessary defense mechanism.

Other self-serving rationalizations include: the belief that the end Justifies the means, it was unavoidable and the behavior was appropriate to the situation.

(Licks et. Al. 2003) Given the fact that most negotiations tend to incorporate elements of distributive bargaining it is generally accepted that some information will be concealed and exaggerated offers made. (Friedman & Shapiro 1995) Even the most cooperative of negotiators will be reluctant to facilitate a completely trusting and honest negotiating environment.

Negotiators need to find a suitable medium which communicates their integrity while maintaining a safe bargaining position. (Byrne, 1987) The amount of information the parties are required to disclose will be contingent upon the situation.

Unethical behavior in negotiations can lead to both positive and negative outcomes. (Licks et. Al. , 2003) However, incentives for deception often create a serious moral tension resulting in unethical negotiators displaying signs of post negotiation guilt and discomfort. Byrne, 1987) By failing to adhere to established ethical conventions in negotiations, a party may find itself gaining an unfavorable reputation in the eyes f its constituencies, the opposition and affected publics. (Licks et.

Al. , 2003) According to Byrne (1987), this can in turn affect future relations between the parties as well as setting up a negative sentiment for future disputes and negotiations. Case study: BP Texas Refinery A recent accident at the BP Texas refinery provides us with an example of the potential ramifications of adopting an unethical stance in negotiation.

According to Laredo Morning Times (2005), despite numerous criticisms by the American Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of willfully violating safety ales Ana regulations, several Tines Ana previous Incidents wince inelegant t plant’s safety inadequacies, BP maintained its hard line stance on workplace safety negotiations. It was a decision which ultimately cost 1 5 contract workers their lives. The Texas City explosion was the eighth time this decade a fatal accident had been reported at a BP-owned plant – and the third fatal accident in Texas City alone.

Thus, this recent fatal accident again raises debate over the issue of ‘money versus morality’ and questions whether BP (given its recent poor track record, as described y Olsen (2005)) acted ethically when addressing safety concerns in negotiations with their workers. From a financial perspective, the Texas refinery is, according to Clinger (2005), Up’s biggest and the third-largest in the US. It processes 460,000 barrels of crude oil a day, enough to supply 3 per cent of America’s petrol demand. However, from a safety perspective, an analysis of industry statistics, news accounts and accident reports shows that, BP leads the U.

Refining industry in deaths over the past decade, with 22 fatalities since 1995 – more than a quarter of those killed in refineries across America. Furthermore, compared to the company’s major U. S. -based peer, Exxon Mobil Corp., than 10 times as many people have died in BP refineries. Road, 2005) The Texas City plant’s long history of safety problems failed to awaken company’s management into making safety issues their primary focus.

Despite, their valiant attempts in several previous workplace negotiations with BP, the union had been unable secure to better working conditions and reparations to work equipment.

In the weeks before the accident at Texas City, the oil giant’s dismal record landed BP n an internal federal watch list of companies ‘indifferent’ to their legal obligations to protect employee safety because of a fatal explosion in Texas City in September 2004 that killed two pipe fitters and injured a third, when pressurized, superheated water was released from a 12-inch check valve. (Laredo Morning Times, 2005) The incident resulted in a $109,500 OSHA fine, including seven serious violations and a willful citation for failing to relieve trapped pressure within a pipe.

The explosion happened in the ventilator stack that was being started up again following extensive maintenance. It resulted in 15 fatalities, while another 70 people were injured.

In response to the incident, BP spokesman Hugh Deplane insisted that BP makes safety a priority and that there have been “significant upgrades at Texas City” in recent years: “As a result of the previous incidents we’ve made a number of changes in safety – including increased safety reviews by all members of the leadership team, an enhanced safety team for all employees and creation of a full- time safety audit team. (Olsen, 2005) According to Laredo Morning Times (2005), the problem could have occurred because BP officials might have focused too much on individual worker safety that they missed problems with overall system safety. Whilst safety statistics may have Improved Decease more workers were avenging melon lemurs, lurking problems, such as the outmoded ventilator stack that spewed liquid and gas before igniting, had been neglected. A good company would have investigated all accidents, incidents and near misses and said, “We’ll fix what we find, and we’ll follow it to completion. (Olsen, 2005) In Up’s case, they found the problem years ago -the ventilator stack – but they never fixed it.

The fact that the Texas plant is Up’s biggest refinery, would lead to the assumption that it would have been receiving regular attention, but with such a poor safety record and constant fines, it’s obvious that the management is continuing to sweep the issue under the rug. The current searing oil prices on the US and global markets may have persuaded the management to adopt such an approach, purely in the interests of profitability but that doesn’t make it condonable.

The matter is currently under further investigation by the OSHA. The evidence presented by Olsen (2005) and Laredo Morning Times (2005) suggests hat the repeated causes of accidents and deaths in BP refineries can be linked to a weak unionist movement within the workers at the refinery. According to Jordan (2005), plant workers were represented by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), and, as mentioned above, failed to improve safety conditions for the workers.

Statistically, as verified by the evidence that Olsen (2005) and Laredo Morning Times (2005) presented, the number of accidents and deaths at BP refineries continued to climb in recent history, and the ion was prepared to take a much bolder stance to finally rectify the situation. Negotiation Tactics A fierce negotiation between BP and its workers, which are mainly contractors, erupted at the Texas BP refinery several weeks before the fatal explosion occurred. According to Olsen (2005), the workers argued that they were working in an outdated temporary operating unit that had no warnings or evacuation procedures.

Furthermore, as verified by Wheelwright (2003), the workers argued that their benefits as independent contractors do not cover compensation for workplace injuries. BP argued with the intention of satisfying the worker’s requests for better occupational health and safety measures, but according to Olsen (2005), seemed unwilling to spend too much time and resources to reinstall safety mechanisms and procedures from bottom up. The union representing the contractors working for BP was aware of Up’s poor safety record, and played hardball tactics, delivering a ridiculously harsh opening stance.

Furthermore, the union was collaborating and forming allegiance with a third party company that reviews and reports the safety procedures and industrial hazards of a aerospace. The union threatened to force an inspection of the poorest sections of the plant, and to release the information to the media. The union targeted the very heart of this sensitive issue, using the poor safety record as evidence that BP has, according to Laredo Morning Limes ( gotten It wrong all along an a Tanat It was time to completely overhaul their safety measures.

According to the facts that Laredo Morning Times (2005) and Olsen (2005) presented, such as the accusations of BP willfully violating safety rules and procedures, delaying fixing problems and hiding investigation reports of previous accidents, it can be argued that BP had a habit of finding quick solutions in order to satisfy workers and minimize disruption to the workplace. This was also evident in their negotiation tactics.

Pushed into the corner by the union’s harsh (but true) attacks, BP had no choice but to re-evaluate their stance on safety measures. This, according to Licks et. L. (2003) is one of the consequences of the hardball tactic that the union employed. BP resorted to using what Licks et. Al.

(2003) classifies as unethical forms of bargaining. According to Olsen (2005), there was an initial report informing BP of the dangers of the temporary operating unit. However, BP chose to conceal that information from the union. The negotiators from BP waved off the allegations of hazardous work conditions as exaggerations on the workers’ behalf, and indicated that their reports showed no substantial evidence for any hazardous sites.

Finally their closing offer was to achieve an increased safety review by all members of the leadership team by creating an enhanced safety team for all employees and by employing a full-time safety audit team. Unfortunately the establishment of these teams, according to Olsen (2005) and Laredo Morning Times (2005), was delayed and did not happen before the explosion that killed 15 people occurred.

Conclusions and Recommendations As discussed in the earlier section on ethics, it can be argued that BP adopted an unethical approach to resolving the dispute.

They were involved in many of the features of an unethical dissolution, including bluffing, exaggerations and concealment. BP was focused on simply achieving the short-term outcome of minimizing disruption and satisfying the workers, and by this they demonstrated a throng belief in the ends Justifying the means. While it can be argued that the negotiators from BP achieved this goal, it can be clearly seen that because of the lack of urgency and value they placed on their workers’ lives, the true outcome of the negotiation was disastrous.

A recommendation extends from Byrne’ (1987) work that was mentioned above.

It involves achieving a positive sentiment when the parties sit down on the negotiation table. Repeated incidents of falsification and lies which cost lives will create an aura of distrust which will lead to a disruption in the work force as well as hardball tactics Ewing employed by the opposing party in future negotiations.

Employing one of Walton & Mimicker’s (1965) key systems in negotiations called attitudinal structuring, which involves open and honest communications between parties and the sharing of safety reports and progress, can give the union confidence that BP will work to fix any hazardous environments in the workplace. This understanding between the parties will also allow BP to target the aspects of occupational health and safety that the workers truly value (Instead AT rep arts DYE Olsen (2005) Implicating a TN t BP was pending all their time Just saying “don’t strain your back” and “don’t get dirt in your eyes”).

This will help achieve their goal of gaining worker support and reducing the disruption to the workforce. This recommendation, of course, hinges on Up’s willingness to spend the resources to develop these programs.

However if Up’s true intentions are to improve their safety record and to decrease the number of accidents and deaths at their plants, establishing an honest and reliable means of communication to the workers is the first step toward correcting their flawed past.

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Middle East Crisis Hamas Resists Israel’s Latest Cease-Fire Offer

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• Israeli military vehicles on the border with Gaza. Atef Safadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
• Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demanding the return of hostages on the day that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and President Isaac Herzog of Israel were meeting. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
• Displaced Palestinians next to a placard thanking pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses in the United States. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A funeral for an Israeli soldier in Ashdod, Israel. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
• Walking past the rubble of a destroyed building in Rafah, Gaza, on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Follow live news updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

Hamas says its position is ‘negative’ on Israel’s offer but signals willingness to keep talking.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that Hamas leaders could save Palestinian lives by accepting a proposed deal under which they would free 33 hostages in exchange for a six-week cease-fire and the liberation of many Palestinian prisoners.

“We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Mr. Blinken said at the start of a meeting in Tel Aviv with Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now, and the time is now long past due to bring the hostages home to their families.”

But on Wednesday night, a spokesman for Hamas, Osama Hamdan, said in an interview on Lebanese television, “Our position on the current negotiating paper is negative.”

The Hamas press office later clarified Mr. Hamdan’s comments, saying that while Hamas’s leaders would not accept the current Israeli proposals without changes, they were willing to keep negotiating. “The negative position does not mean negotiations have stopped,” the press office said. “There is a back and forth issue.”

Mr. Blinken’s comments were part of a concerted campaign by President Biden and his top aides to press Hamas leaders to accept the six-week halt in fighting and possibly lay the foundation for a longer-term cease-fire.

Mr. Blinken made similar comments to reporters the previous evening outside a humanitarian aid warehouse in Zarqa, Jordan. Earlier this week, Mr. Biden urged the leaders of Qatar and Egypt to push Hamas to accept the terms, after Israel agreed to lower the required number of hostages released in the initial round to 33 from 40.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said he supports the latest proposed deal, but at the same time he has vowed to carry out a major ground offensive in the city of Rafah “with or without a deal.” Israeli officials say their objective is to eliminate four battalions of Hamas fighters in Rafah.

Mr. Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman, said in his comments on Al Manar television, “If the enemy carries out the Rafah operation, negotiations will stop.”

Biden administration officials are opposed to a major ground assault in Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge during the war.

Mr. Blinken discussed the hostage and cease-fire deal on the table in a nearly three-hour meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, according to a summary from the State Department. He also spoke about efforts to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza and the U.S. government’s “clear position” on Rafah, the summary said.

Israeli officials said a new crossing into northern Gaza, near the Erez kibbutz, had just opened to allow aid deliveries, and that 30 trucks with goods from Jordan had rolled through the crossing earlier on Wednesday. The opening was promised weeks ago, but the Israeli military said it had to build inspection facilities and pave roads on both sides of the border before the crossing could be used by aid trucks.

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

— Edward Wong traveling in the Middle East with the U.S. secretary of state

Israel has softened some demands in cease-fire negotiations, officials say.

After a monthslong standoff, Israel is softening some of its demands in negotiations over a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held there.

As part of its latest proposal, Israel would allow displaced Palestinian civilians to return to northern Gaza, according to two Israeli officials, which is a sharp reversal on an issue that has been a sticking point in the talks.

For weeks, Israel has demanded that it be allowed to impose significant restrictions on Palestinians going back to the north because of worries that Hamas could take advantage of a large-scale return to strengthen itself. Now, Israel has consented to Palestinian civilians’ going back en masse during the first phase of an agreement, according to the officials, whose account was confirmed by a non-Israeli official familiar with the talks.

One of the Israeli officials said those returning to the north would be subject to no inspections or limitations, while the second said there would be nearly no restrictions, without elaborating. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to share details of the proposal.

It was not clear whether Hamas would accept the most recent Israeli proposal, which is part of negotiations that the two sides are conducting indirectly through mediators from Egypt and Qatar. As of Wednesday afternoon, the group hadn’t officially issued a response.

The cease-fire talks were a focus of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken as he visited Israel on Wednesday. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses,” Mr. Blinken said before meeting with President Isaac Herzog. He later discussed the talks and other issues in a nearly three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas has long demanded that any deal include a permanent end to the war, which has forced most of Gaza’s more than two million people to flee their homes. The Israeli offer, according to one of the Israeli officials, doesn’t include language that refers explicitly to an end to the fighting.

Hanging over the negotiations is Israel’s threat to invade Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza where roughly a million civilians are sheltering, along with what Israel says are thousands of Hamas fighters. But even as it vows to carry out its plan for a ground invasion there, in defiance of pleas from world leaders and humanitarian groups, it is showing some willingness to make concessions in talks to stop the fighting and free hostages.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that, as part of its proposal, Israel had reduced the number of hostages Hamas would need to release in the initial phase of a deal. For months, it had been insisting on the release of 40 hostages, but in the new offer, the Israeli government said it would agree to 33.

That change was prompted in part by the fact that Israel now believes that some of the 40 have died in captivity , one of the officials said.

As details of Israel’s latest offer have emerged, Mr. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from his right-wing coalition partners to reject compromise. If they withdraw from the government over a deal, Israel could head to early elections, threatening Mr. Netanyahu’s political future.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line member of the coalition, has said that if Mr. Netanyahu gives up on invading Rafah immediately, a government under his leadership doesn’t have “the right to exist.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said an invasion of Rafah would take place, without saying when.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a meeting with the families of hostages, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal — in order to achieve the total victory.”

If Israel and Hamas strike an agreement, it would be the first cease-fire since late November, when a short-lived pause in the fighting allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas and its allies captured roughly 240 Israelis and foreigners in their attack on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to go to war in Gaza. More than 130 hostages are believed to still be held in Gaza, but some are thought to have died.

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

— Adam Rasgon reporting from Jerusalem

Israeli settlers attacked aid trucks headed to Gaza, Jordan says.

Israeli settlers attacked several aid trucks on the way from Jordan to Gaza around dawn on Wednesday, including some that were headed for the newly opened border crossing on the north edge of the Gaza Strip, Jordan’s foreign ministry said.

The ministry said that the settlers dumped some of the aid onto the street . It condemned the Israeli government’s failure to protect the aid as a violation of its legal obligation to safeguard the flow of food and other humanitarian necessities to the devastated Palestinian enclave, and said the attack undermined Israel’s claim that it was working to allow more aid into Gaza.

Asked about the attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that overnight, Israeli civilians had “caused damage” to aid on several trucks from Jordan “secured” by Israeli forces.

Details about the attack, including where it happened and how much aid was dumped or damaged, were not immediately released by the Israeli military or the Jordanian foreign ministry, though both said the trucks ultimately managed to reach Gaza.

Honenu, a right-wing legal aid group that often represents Israeli extremists accused of violent crimes against Palestinians, said that four people had been arrested for blocking aid trucks near Ma’ale Adumim, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The trucks were part of two convoys, one of which was headed for the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, the Jordanian foreign ministry said. The other convoy was the first to enter northern Gaza through the Erez crossing, according to the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, who called the attack “despicable” on social media and called for global condemnation and international sanctions against Israel.

Israel agreed to open the Erez crossing on Wednesday, after some of its closest allies, including the United States, pressured it to allow more aid into Gaza in the aftermath of the Israeli military’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in April. For months beforehand, United Nations officials and aid organizations had been pleading with Israel to open the crossing to allow aid to move directly into northern Gaza, in hopes of averting famine.

Honenu said on Wednesday that it had provided legal counsel to the four arrested individuals, and that they had been released after being issued a restraining order requiring them to stay away from aid convoys and not participate in illicit gatherings.

Israeli civilians have repeatedly blocked the passage of aid trucks — sometimes as Israeli security forces stand by — with many demanding that no aid reach Palestinians in Gaza until hostages held in the enclave are released.

The U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, who has been on another wartime tour of the Middle East, was in Jordan on Tuesday at the warehouse where medical and food aid was being loaded onto the convoy heading to the Erez crossing. He praised Israel’s opening of the crossing as “real and important progress,” adding that “more still needs to be done.” On Wednesday, during a visit to Israel, Mr. Blinken included the Kerem Shalom crossing among his stops.

— Anushka Patil and Johnatan Reiss

Blinken’s visit to the Kerem Shalom crossing puts aid for Gaza front and center.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited an inspection checkpoint at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in Israel on Wednesday, part of an effort to prioritize the issue of humanitarian aid for Gaza during his Middle East tour.

Under pressure from President Biden after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers , Israel announced last month that it would open more avenues for aid to enter Gaza . Israel has since expedited the flow of aid into Gaza amid intense international scrutiny, though humanitarian organizations say more is urgently needed to alleviate the severe hunger that is gripping the enclave.

Here’s a look at where things stand .

Border Crossings

Israel imposes stringent checks on incoming aid to keep out anything that might help Hamas, which it has pledged to eliminate. Since the start of the war, most of the aid for Gaza has been transiting through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israel opened the crossing at Kerem Shalom in December after pressure from the United States to speed up the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, Israeli protesters have regularly gathered at the crossing, trying to block aid convoys from entering the enclave in the hopes of raising the pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.

The Rafah and Kerem Shalom checkpoints both touch southern Gaza. Aid officials pleaded with Israel for months to add additional entry points — especially in the north, where the risk of famine was deemed greatest by the United Nations.

Under pressure, Israel said last month that it would reopen the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza and that shipments bound for the enclave would be accepted at the Israeli port of Ashdod. On Wednesday, Israel said that the first aid trucks, 30 in total, had passed through the crossing after being inspected.

But the Erez crossing, which was primarily used for pedestrian traffic before the war, was badly damaged during the Hamas-led raid on Israel in October. As international officials and humanitarian agencies looked for signs that Israel was making good on its pledges, Israel said it would be opening another crossing into northern Gaza — not Erez.

Other Efforts

U.S. Army engineers also are working to construct a floating pier off the coast of Gaza. The pier — which Mr. Blinken said Tuesday would be operational in about one week — could help relief workers deliver as many as two million meals a day.

And the Jordanian military and government have in recent weeks increased the amount of aid arriving in overland convoys, which travel from Jordan through the West Bank and across part of Israel before reaching the southern Gaza border crossings. The Jordanian military carries out its own inspections. Government trucks are inspected by Israel.

Situation on the Ground

There are widespread food shortages in Gaza, and the United Nations has warned that a famine is looming . Aid groups and United Nations officials have accused Israel of systematically limiting aid delivery. Israel denies the assertion, blaming the shortages on logistical failures by aid groups, and has recently increased the number of trucks entering the strip.

In recent weeks, Israel’s efforts to increase the flow of aid have been acknowledged by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks also appeared to be reaching Gaza, especially in the north.

On Wednesday, Mr. Blinken discussed how aid delivery has improved when he met with Mr. Netanyahu and “reiterated the importance of accelerating and sustaining that improvement,” according to the State Department.

— Cassandra Vinograd

‘Thank you, American universities’: Gazans express gratitude for campus protesters.

Thousands of miles away from the campus protests that have divided Americans, some displaced Palestinians are expressing solidarity with the antiwar demonstrators and gratitude for their efforts.

Messages of support were written on some tents in the southern city of Rafah, where roughly a million displaced people have sought shelter from the Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that Gazan health officials say have killed more than 34,000 people.

“Thank you, American universities,” read one message captured on video by the Reuters news agency. “Thank you, students in solidarity with Gaza your message has reached” us, read another nearby.

Tensions have risen at campuses across the United States, with police in riot gear arresting dozens of people at Columbia University on Tuesday night and officers across the country clashing with pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had erected encampments and seized academic buildings at other institutions. The protesters have been calling for universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel, and some have vowed not to back down.

The protests have come at a particularly fearful time in Rafah, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowing to launch a ground invasion of the city to root out Hamas battalions there despite glimmers of hope for a temporary cease-fire.

Palestinians “are very happy that there are still people standing with us,” said Mohammed al-Baradei, a 24-year-old recent graduate from the dentistry program at Al-Azhar University who spoke by phone from Rafah.

“The special thing is that this is happening in America and that people there are still aware and the awareness is growing every day for the Palestinian cause,” he added.

Akram al-Satri, a 47-year-old freelance journalist sheltering in Rafah, said Gazans were “watching with hope and gratitude the student movement in the United States.”

“For us this is a glimmer of hope on a national level,” he added in a voice message on Wednesday.

Bisan Owda, a 25-year-old Palestinian who has been documenting the war on social media, said in a video posted to her more than 4.5 million Instagram followers that the campus protests had brought her a new sense of possibility.

“I’ve lived my whole life in Gaza Strip and I’ve never felt hope like now,” said Ms. Owda.

Nader Ibrahim contributed reporting and video production from London.

— Hiba Yazbek reporting from Jerusalem

Colombia’s president says the country will sever ties with Israel, calling its government ‘genocidal.’

Colombia will sever diplomatic ties with Israel over its prosecution of the war in Gaza, President Gustavo Petro announced in Bogotá on Wednesday, describing the Israeli government as “genocidal.”

His announcement came in a speech in Colombia’s capital city in front of cheering crowds that had gathered for International Workers’ Day.

“The times of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people cannot come before our eyes, before our passivity,” Mr. Petro said. “If Palestine dies, humanity dies.”

Colombia is the second South American nation to break off relations with Israel after Bolivia, which cut ties in November over its strikes in Gaza. On the day that Bolivia made its announcement, Colombia and Chile both said that they were recalling their ambassadors to Israel, and Honduras followed suit within days. Belize also cut diplomatic ties with Israel that month.

The Israeli government denounced Mr. Petro’s move on Wednesday.

“History will remember that Gustavo Petro chose to stand at the side of the most abominable monsters known to man, who burned babies, killed children, raped woman and abducted innocent civilians,” Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, wrote on X . “Israel and Colombia always enjoyed warm ties. Even an antisemitic and hateful president will not change that.’’

Mr. Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader and a critic of U.S. drug policy toward his country, had threatened to cut ties with Israel in March if it did not comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. And he called on other countries to do the same. In response to that threat, Mr. Katz wrote on X that Mr. Petro’s “support for Hamas murderers” who carried out massacres and committed sex crimes against Israelis was shameful.

“Israel will continue to protect its citizens and will not yield to any pressure or threats,” he added.

In February Mr. Petro suspended Colombia’s purchase of Israeli weapons in February after Israeli forces opened fire while a crowd was gathered near a convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid to Gaza City, part of a chaotic scene in which scores of people were killed and injured, according to Gazan health officials and the Israeli military.

“Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Netanyahu,” Mr. Petro wrote on X at the time, comparing the events to the Holocaust “even if the world powers do not like to acknowledge it.”

“The world must block Netanyahu,” he added.

— Genevieve Glatsky reporting from Bogotá, Colombia

Netanyahu’s pledge to invade Rafah could undermine efforts to reach a cease-fire deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel once again pledged on Tuesday to launch a ground invasion into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, a move that could undermine efforts to negotiate a cease-fire agreement after seven months of war in the Palestinian enclave.

The United States, Qatar and several countries have been pushing to get a cease-fire deal, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visiting the region and expectations rising that Hamas and Israel might be edging closer to an agreement.

But with Hamas arguing that any agreement should include an end to the war, and with right-wing politicians in Israel threatening to leave the government coalition if the long-planned incursion into Rafah is delayed, Mr. Netanyahu made clear that Israel would reserve the right to keep fighting.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a meeting with the families of hostages held in Gaza, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory.”

Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they plan to move into Rafah, but over the weekend, they made clear they were open to holding off if it meant they could secure the release of hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. One official also suggested that Israel was using the threat of an imminent military maneuver to press the armed group into a hostage deal.

In anticipation of an offensive, some families in Rafah have been moving north into areas of Gaza that had already been attacked by Israeli forces, but on Tuesday, the scale of the evacuation remained unclear. As of last week, more than one million Gazans, many of them previously displaced from other parts of the territory by Israeli bombardment, were still sheltering in the city in makeshift tents.

American officials and other allies have been pressing Israel to either avoid an assault on Rafah or develop specific plans to adequately minimize civilian casualties.

On Tuesday, Mr. Blinken met with officials in Jordan to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, and to press for peace and an increase in humanitarian aid. There was no immediate reaction from the State Department to Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain spoke to Mr. Netanyahu on Tuesday, his office said in a statement. The British leader “continued to push for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in and hostages out” and said that Britain’s focus was on de-escalation, it said.

For weeks, cease-fire talks had been at a standstill. But Israeli officials have said that negotiators have reduced the number of hostages they want Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce, opening up the possibility that the stalled negotiations could be revived.

A senior Hamas official said on social media on Monday that the group was studying a new Israeli proposal.

A Hamas delegation met with officials in Egypt’s intelligence service on Monday, according to a senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions between Hamas and Egypt.

Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.

— Damien Cave

A father in Rafah whose family survived an airstrike asks, ‘What should we do?’

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel repeats his vow to launch a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza and Israeli airstrikes continue to pummel the city, it is a particularly fearful time for displaced families sheltering there.

“What should we do? Where will we go?” said Mohammed Abu Youssef, who spoke on Wednesday in video shot by the Reuters news agency about how he and his children had narrowly survived an airstrike. “I am waiting for a tent so I can leave,” he added as he burst into tears.

Mr. Abu Youssef said his family had recently fled to Al-Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah, seeking safety. He suffered a head injury in the strike, he said, and his brother-in-law, who was sheltering with him, lost two children. Several other relatives were also wounded, he said.

Roughly a million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in Rafah from the Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that health officials say have killed more than 34,000 people across Gaza. Israel has said that the purpose of the planned invasion is to root out Hamas fighters there.

Mr. Abu Youssef said he was now left grappling with the uncertainty of again trying to find a place where his family could be safe. Some displaced families in Rafah have already been moving north into areas of Gaza that were combat zones earlier in the war.

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Local News | What we know about various investigations…

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Local News | What we know about various investigations stemming from Key Bridge collapse

The 984-foot Dali weighed some 112,000 tons loaded with containers when it left the Port of Baltimore early in the morning of March 26. The ship lost all power while approaching the bridge and drifted into one of its support columns, toppling the span .

Here’s what we know about the various investigations:

National Transportation Safety Board

The NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety and Office of Highway Safety are examining what went wrong aboard the Dali and the structural components of the bridge, respectively.

The agency investigates through the lens of safety and with the goal of preventing similar tragedies from occurring, not holding anyone liable.

Investigators have searched the Dali’s engine room for answers about why the vessel lost power. They brought in representatives from the ship’s manufacturer, Hyundai, to help extract data from the electrical system and circuit breakers.

Alarms indicating an inconsistent power supply to refrigerated containers sounded on the Dali before it left the port, according to the City of Baltimore’s lawsuit  against the ship’s Singaporean owner and manager.

NTSB investigators have interviewed members of the Dali’s predominantly Indian crew and the Maryland pilots who boarded the vessel to guide it out of port and under the Key Bridge safely. They also questioned Coast Guard watch standers and took statements from tugboat operators.

Two tugs guided the Dali away from the port’s Seagirt Marine Terminal but cast off once the ship was in the main McHenry shipping channel.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told senators in April that she expected the agency’s “preliminary report will not be out until the first week of May.” The NTSB is still preparing that report but expects to announce the release date “in the coming weeks,” spokesman Peter C. Knudson said last week.

The preliminary report outlines the agency’s factual findings. A final report, which comes one to two years after an investigation begins, includes conclusions and safety recommendations.

The Coast Guard

Coast Guard officials convened a Marine Board of Investigation, tasking investigators with “thoroughly” examining the ship crash “in accordance with all applicable statutory and regulator mandates,” according to a March 26 memorandum outlining the investigation. The board has to submit a report to the Coast Guard Commandant with its findings, conclusions and recommendations within a year.

Petty Officer Michael Himes described the Marine Board investigation as “complementary” to the NTSB investigation, saying the NTSB was designated as the lead agency. He declined to further comment.

At a news conference the day after the bridge collapse , Homendy credited the Coast Guard with boarding the Dali to download information from its voyage data recorder — a simplified version of an aircraft  “black box” — and providing it to the NTSB for further analysis.

Describing the Coast Guard as “the regulator of U.S. maritime operations,” Knudson said the NTSB relies on the Coast Guard to provide a range of data for its investigation, such as information about mariner licenses and vessel operations, ship inspection and violation history, as well as local knowledge of the port.

“In addition, the USCG provides significant on-scene assistance, such as travel to vessels at anchor or assisting with interviews of crew members, and general coordination of on-scene activities,” Knudson said.

It’s common for those agencies to work together in a maritime accident investigation, said Thomas Roth-Roffy, a former NTSB investigator of almost 20 years.

He said it’s possible the NTSB took the lead in this case because it’s a multimodal investigation involving a bridge, highway and ship.

In a phone interview, Roth-Roffy harked back to investigations he led, such as the NTSB’s probe into the U.S.-flagged cargo vessel SS El Faro, which lost propulsion in the middle of a hurricane in 2015 and sank near the Bahamas along with its 33-person crew

“The Coast Guard was more than just another party in the investigation,” he said. “They were a close partner.”

While the agencies’ investigations may be complementary, Roth-Roffy said, the Coast Guard, unlike the NTSB, can enforce violations of marine regulations or law.

“Conclusions and recommendations concerning commendatory actions or misconduct that would warrant further inquiry shall be referred by separate correspondence to the cognizant District Commander for consideration and action,” the Coast Guard’s investigative memo says.

The FBI was at the scene of the bridge collapse the day it happened, but its involvement escalated April 15, when agents boarded the Dali to serve a search warrant.

The exact scope of the FBI’s investigation into the Key Bridge collapse is unclear. It’s also not known what agents confiscated while aboard.

Before federal agents serve search warrants, they have to articulate in writing their suspicion that a crime occurred. Only if the evidence meets the legal standard of “probable cause” will a judge sign off on a search warrant.

It’s common for the paperwork associated with search warrants to remain under seal in court records long into an investigation and any subsequent criminal case.

The FBI likely is looking at whether a pre-Civil War statute known as “seaman’s manslaughter,” which has been applied in past American maritime disasters, is applicable here.

That law says neglect or misconduct leading to death by the ship officer is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It also applies to the companies that own and charter vessels when their “fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law” leads to death.

FBI agents typically do not investigate in a vacuum, but in collaboration with prosecutors from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office or from another branch of the Department of Justice.

“Often in these high-profile matters there would be significant involvement by prosecutors in Washington in addition to the local U.S. attorneys,” former Deputy U.S. Attorney General and Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said in an April interview after agents raided the ship.

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health

Seven construction workers from Brawner Builders Inc. were on the Key Bridge, taking a break from filling potholes on Interstate 695, when the Dali struck. A state inspector who also was present was able to get to part of the span that didn’t collapse, while one of the construction workers survived by clinging to a piece of debris.

The six others died. Five of their bodies have been recovered .

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health, or MOSH, a branch of the state Department of Labor that investigates workplace injuries and deaths, launched an investigation the same day workers were sent plummeting into the river.

A MOSH spokesperson declined to comment, citing the agency’s ongoing investigation.

William F. Alcarese, a former safety officer with MOSH and its federal counterpart, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said such workplace probes look at whether employers abided by regulations designed to keep their workers safe.

He believes investigators will be looking at whether there was an emergency plan in place for the Brawner employees working on the bridge.

“In this case, you had workers on the bridge, was there a communication plan in place? Was there a policy in place for communication?” said Alcarese, noting that bridges are often closed because of inclement weather, such as high winds. “It’s like trenches: Most trenches don’t cave in, but when one does, it can be catastrophic. That’s why there are plans in place.”

Alcarese also pointed to a federal occupational safety regulation that requires employers who put workers over or adjacent to water have a “lifesaving skiff … immediately available.”

Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner, declined to say whether the company had a rescue boat in the water, citing the MOSH investigation.

“I don’t know that Brawner Builders could’ve taken any more action than that which was taken the evening of the tragedy. Brawner’s safety protocols were consistent with those taken over the last 40 years with similar work,” Pritzker said. “Who would have ever anticipated that a bridge would come down?”

Alcarese expects the workplace investigation to examine the roles of Brawner and the state, which contracted the company.

Officials were quick to praise the work of Maryland transportation police officers who swiftly blocked traffic from going onto the bridge after receiving a mayday call about the drifting ship from the pilot. But attorneys for the families of two victims and one survivor say the workers weren’t notified .

Transportation police, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Port Authority declined to say whether they are conducting reviews in response to the collapse, citing the Dali’s owner and manager’s civil court action to clear themselves of liability related to the disaster.

“The pending litigation related to the Key Bridge collapse (limitation of liability action) and anticipated future litigation prevents the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Maryland Transportation Authority, and the Maryland Port Administration from disclosing the existence of investigations or reviews,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

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