The UCLA Center for Middle East Development hosted the event, "After the War: Options and Necessities for Gaza’s Recovery and Renewal," on June 5, 2024.

For eight months, the human suffering in Israel and Gaza have dominated the world’s attention. Less central to the discourse, however, has been discussion around what may follow a ceasefire and what needs to be done, by whom, to achieve the best outcomes possible for Gazans, Palestinians, Israelis and the region - rebuilding Gaza, reuniting Palestinians, preventing future wars, and building a new Middle East.

This session discussed the options around the interrelated humanitarian, security, governance, reconstruction, and diplomatic questions surrounding the Gaza war, and how the key actors can build the coordination and cooperation necessary for addressing immediate-term needs grounded in longer-term objectives for a just and sustainable resolution to the conflict.

MEET THE PANELISTS

Dr. Shira Efron is the director of research at the Israel Policy Forum and a special climate change advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Defense and National Security Council. She also serves as co-chair of the subgroup on regional cooperation of the President's climate forum. She is on sabbatical from the RAND Corporation, where she founded the Israel program and led studies at the nexus of climate change and national security, including food security in the MENA. Previously, Dr. Efron was a fellow at the Center for American Progress, the Middle East Institute, and the Institute for National Security Studies. She holds a PhD and Master of Philosophy in policy analysis from RAND’s Graduate School, an MA in international relations and business from New York University, and a BS in biology and computer science from Tel Aviv University.

Mr. Ibrahim Eid Dalalsha is one of the leading analysts of Palestinian politics in the region. Prior to founding the Horizon Center, he served for two decades as a senior political advisor at the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, advising US officials on the Peace Process; Palestinian politics, state development, and civil society; as well as extremist movements. He played an integral role in peace negotiations across the Middle East, including the ceasefire negotiations held in 2014 Cairo, Secretary Kerry’s Peace Initiative from 2013 to 2014, and President Bush’s Annapolis Peace Conference in 2009. At the Horizon Center, Mr. Dalalsha drafts political, legal, security and economic studies and other topics related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Dalalsha is currently a PhD candidate researching Constitutional Law in Palestine. He received his Master's in Law from al Quds University in 2022, and a Masters in International Studies from Bir Zeit University in 2011. He also earned a BSc in Law from Al-Quds University in 2017, and a BA from Bethlehem University in English Literature  in 1996.

Ambassador Karim Haggag is a career Egyptian diplomat with over 25 years of service in Egypt’s diplomatic corps. He is a professor of practice at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, director of the Middle East Studies Center at the American University in Cairo (AUC), and a non-resident fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also a senior advisor at LYNX Strategic Business Advisors, Egypt's leading government relations consultancy firm. Throughout his career, he has served in numerous capacities focusing on Middle East regional security, arms control, non-proliferation, and Arab-Israeli diplomacy. Ambassador Haggag is a graduate of AUC and has earned an MA in war studies from King’s College London.

MEET THE MODERATORS

Robert Barron is a program officer with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), where he manages a portfolio of policy research, conflict analysis, and peacebuilding projects. Prior to joining USIP in 2018, Mr. Barron served as policy assistant to the director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, where he managed and contributed to the Institute’s research on the Middle East and served on the Institute’s executive leadership team. From 2015 until 2016, he worked as a journalist and editor in Cairo, Egypt, and in 2014, he worked in economic development in Cairo.

Farah Bdour is the John Lewis Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). She is a political analyst and specialist in conflict resolution and mediation who worked on peace building efforts among policy makers and youth organizations. She is the director of a Jordanian thinktank based in Amman that provides policy analysis and recommendations to the strategic community, both in Jordan and abroad. Ms. Bdour also serves as an advisor for number of governmental agencies on promoting people-to-people peacebuilding programs, dialogue and reconciliation.