Sherif A Elgebeily

By: Sherif A Elgebeily
Subjects: Law, Middle East Studies, Other

Overview

The Centre for the Study of International Peace and Security (CSIPS) is proud to announce its Annual Middle East Peace Conference to be held at King's College London on Friday 12th May, 2017.
Negotiations of the Middle East peace process have traditionally focused on one of two plans. The ‘Two-state Solution” dates back to UN resolutions of 1974, and proposes that an independent and sovereign state of Palestine - the precise geographical demarcation of which is disputed – should be established bordering Israel. The ‘One-state Solution’ dates back even further, although it has seen renewed interest since the turn of the 21st century, and proposes that all Palestinian and Israeli citizens should be granted equal rights irrespective of ethnicity or religious belief. However, neither of these processes have been successfully implemented to date, Israel continues to occupy significant areas of the Palestinian Territories as defined under the Oslo Peace accords, and in a recent interview following the passing of UNSC resolution 2332 (2016), Norman Finkelstein claimed that “the Palestinian cause has died.”
At its first level, therefore, this conference seeks to examine ways in which either of these two peace plans can be revived and implemented, and asks the difficult question as to whether it is time to abandon the Two-State based roadmap for peace and find an alternative direction. For this reason, this conference also seeks to examine alternative methods of peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict beyond the typical one and two-state discourse, questioning whether it is time for the introduction of a “Third Way” and what this “Third Way” might entail.

Tickets available at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/israeli-palestinian-conflict-conference-amb-hassassian-lord-turnberg-tickets-32468902361

Programme

09:00: Registration

09:30 – 09:45: Director’s Welcome

09:45 – 10:45: Keynote speaker 1 
H.E. Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK

10:45 – 10:55 Convenience Break

10:55 – 12:15 Panel 1: The History and Future of the Two-State Solution
Chair: Professor Rosemary Hollis (City University)
1) Prehistoric Arab-Israel Conflicts and Myriad Factors: A Critique to the Contrivances of Optimistic Conflict Resolution,
Mr. Nazmul Islam (Yildirim Beyazit University) 
2) The Two-State Solution is Dead, Long Live the Two-State Solution,
Dr. Allison Hodgkins (American University in Cairo)
3) Creating a Two-State Reality: Towards a Hybrid Strategy, 
Mr. James Sorene & Professor Alan Johnson (BICOM)

12:15 – 13:15: Lunch Break (Please note that lunch will not be provided)

13:15 – 14:30 Panel 2: Regional, Foreign, and International Perspectives 
Chair: (TBC)
1) Primary responsibility for maintaining peace: the UN Security Council’s power to impose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 
Dr. Miguel Manero (University of Macao) 
2) Can conflict-management be effective in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict? The inaccurate comparison with the issue of occupation and division of Cyprus, 
Dr. Themistoklis Tzimas (DEI College) 
3) The Prospects for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: The Role of the Wider Region, 
Dr. Parshuram Sial (Jawahar Lal Nehru College)

14:30 – 15:30 Keynote Speaker 2
The Lord Turnberg, President, All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group

15:30 – 15:40: Convenience Break

15:40 – 16:55 Panel 3: A Third Way – Models and Theories
Chair: Dr. Maria Holt (University of Westminster)
1) A Third Way: One Homeland, Two States, 
Dr Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary University London) 
2) A Federal Solution for Israel/Palestine: the Belgian Model, 
Mr. Karel Reybrouk (Leuven Centre for Public Law)
3) Can Asymmetrical Constitutional Arrangements Provide an Alternative Answer for the Disputed?, 
Ms. Maja Sahadzic (University of Antwerp)

16:55 – 17:00: Closing comments

17:00: End