JERUSALEM: With the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of young people across the Middle East are talking reconciliation online, a former Israeli peace negotiator and founder of the movement said Monday.

Uri Savir, himself an ex-peace negotiator between Israel and the Palestinians and founder of “Yala Young Leaders,” said the size and scope of his group shows that young people in the Middle East want peace. “The peace process continues online,” he said.

The Facebook group, which has backing from celebrities including Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Sharon Stone, has attracted almost 500,000 followers from around the region, including youth in the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Muslim countries that have no ties with Israel.

The group will hold an annual virtual peace conference on Sunday that will include video presentations by Nobel Peace laureates Israeli President Shimon Peres and Desmond Tutu as well as senior EU, US and Palestinian officials.

The “Yala Young Leaders” group has an online university that teaches peace and reconciliation studies with lectures by officials with real experience in negotiating conflicts in Northern Ireland, South Africa, Rwanda, the Balkans as well as between Israel and the Palestinians and elsewhere.