-That was the title of a Bournemouth fringe meeting today. It was hosted by Liberal Democrats for Peace in Middle East. Their President, Leon Duveen, was on the panel with their Chair, Mohammed Amin.
The panel (above) featured Sharon Booth, who is the Chief Executive and founder of Solutions Not Sides. SNS “is an education programme that exists to provide humanising encounters, diverse narratives and critical-thinking tools in order to empower young people with the knowledge, empathy and skills to promote dialogue and conflict resolution, and to challenge prejudice in the UK.”
Also on the panel were two peace activists who SNS use as mentors in their programme.
They included Hamze Awawde has been leading programmes that bring Israelis and Palestinians together for the last 12 years. He leads YaLa Young Leaders, which brings young people together to break down divisions and barriers.
There was a very interesting and inspiring discussion about educating younger generations in the art of critical thinking and conflict resolution.
That said, a later discussion about the forthcoming Israeli general election (if it happens) and prospects for peace was somewhat depressing.
I asked a question about the Northern Ireland peace process and whether it provided any hope or inspiration in the context of the Middle East. Hamze Awawde made an interesting reply. He said that in Northern Ireland there was a recognition amongst the various leaderships that peace was needed. Also, there was George Mitchell, the US peace envoy, who talked to all sides including the IRA. I would add there was also Mo Mowlem, who obviously made a difference.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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2 Comments
First of all I would like to congratulate my colleagues on the committee for Liberal Democrat For Peace in the Middle East for running this event. It sounds like it went off splendidly. Congratulations on all of your hard work paying off.
When I raised the Northern Ireland comparison with an Israeli friend of mine he found it very irksome and refused to entertain it. However, the fact remains that in order to provide the basis of negotiations the parties to the conflict will likely have to sign some sort of pledge to renounce violence in favour of peaceful negotiations. Can Hamas or the Israeli Government ever arrive at a point where such a commitment may be verifiable? It is hard to say.
Just a technicality, the British Government would never admit that it negotiated with the Provisional IRA. It would only ever admit that it negotiated with Sinn Fein.
The event was recorded and we hope to publish the video on the LDfPME website.