Not for the first time, Northern Ireland has been mooted as a fitting model to emulate. The 1998 Belfast Agreement is routinely lauded on the international stage as an example of how to bring a seemingly intractable conflict to an end. As former British secretary of state for Northern Ireland Peter Hain once claimed, “If one of the longest-running conflicts in European history can be resolved, then there is hope for even the most bitter and seemingly intractable disputes across the globe”. Since the ushering-in of peace in Northern Ireland there has been a proliferation of initiatives and enterprises that have sought to bring the lessons of Ireland’s “peace-building” experience to other global trouble spots, including Palestine-Israel. For Palestinians waiting for justice, time can be measured in subsequent peace processes – Wye River, Camp David, Oslo, Hebron, Taba, Beirut.

Source: The Irish Times May 31, 2021 00:57 UTC