"In 1992, Amendment No. 15 of the Courts Act  (Consolidated Version), 1984 was enacted. The Amendment provides that a court judging a civil matter may, with the agreement of the parties, refer the matter to arbitration or to mediation or may judge by means of a compromise. It was via this Amendment that the mediation process first entered the gates of the courts in Israel. However, until about five years ago mediation remained mainly in the law books. In recent years the field of mediation and conflict resolution has began to gain momentum both within the courts and outside of them."