François Picard is pleased to welcome Avi Meyerstein, co-founder and president of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). At a moment when international attention is increasingly consumed by conflict across the Middle East, Meyer argues that the crises currently unfolding are not isolated events but manifestations of unresolved political conflicts that have been left to fester for decades. "While those things remain unresolved," he observes, any semblance of stability "is just an illusion".
Rather than focusing solely on state actors, Meyerstein places unusual emphasis on the role of civil society, describing Israeli and Palestinian grassroots leaders as "the people on the ground who are actually working for solutions". He points to polling showing substantial Israeli support for a regional agreement that includes Palestinian statehood, arguing that citizens require "alternatives to this bloody status quo".
