Resources & Tools

As Bosnia and Herzegovina’s longtime tradition of religious coexistence is disappearing, USIP examines how education for new generations can improve multiethnic understanding in the postwar country.

Education plays a critical role in preparing communities for change and has made important contributions to post-conflict reconciliation in numerous war-torn societies, yet education issues have largely been excluded from past efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  A new USIP report argues why an education track should be included in the negotiations phase and in the text of an agreement itself, and puts forward practical recommendations on how Israelis and Palestinians – and the international community – can move forward with a successful peace process that incorporates education.

May 2009 | Daniel Brumberg and Eriks Berzins
On February 23, 2009, the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), together with the United Nations Association-USA and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, held a roundtable discussion among top Middle East experts and former United States Government officials. Held at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the meeting’s purpose was to discuss prospects for creating a diplomatic framework through which the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran can address issues of common concern in the Middle East and South Asia, and in so doing, advance an engagement dynamic that might eventually open the doors for rapprochement between the two countries.

 Hamas's landslide victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections of January 2006 came as an unwelcome and unexpected shock to both Middle Eastern and international regimes, with the organization winning nearly 58 percent of the Palestinian Legislative Council seats. The United States, a number of European nations, and Israel had all issued clear warnings before the elections that they would not deal with a Palestinian Authority led by Hamas.

This publication documents faith-based efforts by Muslim, Jewish, and Christians to achieve a just peace in the Arab/Israeli conflict. The publication argues forcefully that religious leaders and interests must be engaged in the peace process in order to assure a sustainable, inclusive, and comprehensive settlement. The report includes the perspectives of clergy, lay, facilitators of inter-faith dialogue, religious educators, and participants in the historic Alexandria Summit in January 2002, which convened high-level clergy to voice a religious commitment to and strategy for achieving peace in the region.