LONDON: The UK prime minister is moving forward with a Middle East peace plan based on his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, The Independent reported on Saturday.
Keir Starmer pledged in December that the UK would lead efforts to bring long-term peace to the region.
This week, following the establishment of a ceasefire in Gaza, the British government and Foreign Office held meetings with figures from the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a network of more than 160 organizations engaged in civil society peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians.
Starmer’s plan will see Foreign Secretary David Lammy host a conference later this year to raise funds for the project.
John Lyndon, ALLMEP’s executive director, told The Independent: “It’s encouraging to see the government begin to think through how the prime minister’s endorsement of an international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace — and the pledge that the foreign secretary would hold an inaugural meeting in London — can relate to the rapidly changing environment.
“With a fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in place, we need to see initiatives like this predicated on conflict resolution, nonviolence and diplomacy gather momentum.”
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, served as adviser on human rights to the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 2003 to 2007.
The board supervises the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with Starmer having worked to ensure the service was compliant with the 1998 Human Rights Act.
The International Fund for Ireland, which was launched in the late 1980s and serves as a model for Starmer’s Middle East peace project, was described as the “great unsung hero of the Good Friday Agreement” by Jonathan Powell, the government’s former chief negotiator.
The fund slowly pooled resources and brought figures from both sides of the conflict together, culminating in the 1999 Good Friday Agreement.
