Civil society key to peace-building

The Gaza crisis represents a grotesque failure of political leadership

By Alistair Burt
Arab News
March 12, 2024

"The agony of Gaza goes on…

"The victims of these conflicts are rarely the leaders; it is the poorest and most defenseless, disproportionately women and children, who pay the heaviest price…

"While it is obvious a new Gaza must emerge, a new Israel must also emerge, such is the shock to an already fracturing political system. Both will require new leadership, as neither can ever be the same again.

"Emerging voices are making the case that the failure of political leadership means that a top-down resolution of affairs — the classic conclusions of high-level negotiations of local and international leaders determining the compromises needed for the future — will not be possible to achieve without the greater engagement of civil society…

"With the limitations of the existing political leaderships so apparent, it is not unreasonable to demand that civil society efforts be fed into the horizon of a revived peace process. Amid failure, their efforts have been a success. There are precious few other successes to which to point — they have earned their right to be heard."

Alistair Burt is a former UK Member of Parliament who has twice held ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office — as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of State for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019.

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