IofC UK Insight: Is peace possible in the Middle East?

The Middle East, particularly the Israel-Palestine conflict, remains one of the most enduring and complex challenges in international relations. As war rages in the Middle East and peace seems further away than ever before, understanding the multifaceted dynamics of this conflict is more crucial than ever.

Join us for our next IofC UK Insight: Is peace possible in the Middle East? This event will bring together a panel of esteemed experts who will share their perspectives on whether peace is achievable in the Middle East and what steps can be taken to move towards this goal.  The event will be moderated by Dr Scherto Gill.

Guest speakers at the Panel Discussion include: 

Dr Imad Karam
Dr Imad Karam is an award-winning peace activist. He is also the Executive Director of Initiatives of Change International, a global network of people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, whose mission is to inspire, equip and accompany change-makers in the pursuit of a just and peaceful world. Imad was born in Gaza City, Palestine, where his parents and siblings currently live. Imad is also a trustee of the Balfour Project, a UK charity that aims to contribute to peace with justice, security and equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis.

Dr Tony Klug
Tony Klug has written and lectured extensively about Israeli-Palestinian issues since the early 1970s when he first proposed the two-state idea as part of his doctoral thesis on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Tony’s writings have appeared in scores of publications in more than a dozen countries. Tony has been a senior advisor on the Middle East to the Oxford Research Group and a consultant to the Palestine Strategy Group and the Israeli Strategic Forum. He worked at Amnesty International for many years and headed the international development programme.

Assad Chaftari
Assad served as a senior intelligence official in the Christian militia during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). In 1988 Assad met IofC and had a change of heart and has had no political commitment since 1994. He is now an Advisory Board member for Wahdatouna Khalsouna, a collection of NGOs working for civil peace in Lebanon. Assad co-created ‘Fighters for Peace’, an NGO of ex-civil warfighters working together for civil peace. In Since 2016, Assad has been a member of the Global Peace Builders Network and in 2018, Assad trained at Clingendael Institute about insider Mediation with UNDP.

Moderated by:

Dr Scherto Gill
Professor Scherto R. Gill is Director of Global Humanity for Peace Institute, University of Wales Trinity St David. She is also Senior Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation, an international peace think-tank based in the Southeast of England; Life Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA), and a laureate of the 2022 Luxembourg Peace Award. She is Visiting Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the University of Sussex. Scherto directs the UNESCO Collective Healing Initiative, and she chairs the G20 Interfaith Forum‘s Education Working Group. Scherto is a board member of Spirit of Humanity Forum, and Rising Global Peace Forum.

This event will be hosted in London at IofC UK, SW1P 1RD. In-person spaces for this event are limited and we will be operating on a first come first served basis.

This event will also be livestreamed.