Hiba Qasas

So I named the tension plainly because anything softer would be dishonest.

We are here out of urgency and responsibility for our own people.

because the status quo neither delivered security to the Israelis nor dignity or an end to the occupation to the Palestinians.

And we are at an inflection point.

We either break the cycle or condemn both our people to a perpetual state of loss, of trauma, of insecurity, of occupation.

We agreed not to dwell on our national and historical narrative.

There is no common ground to be found in the past.

Instead, we focus on what you cannot afford to lose.

Security, dignity, the future you want for your children.

Because you see, common ground does not begin with moral agreement.

It begins with self-interest.

Everything else comes later.

So let me tell you what we've done differently, because this is where the old peacemaking toolbox often misfires.

We did not organize this around the grassroots but the grass tops, not the convinced but the persuadable, people with influence on power, on politics, on the economy.

People who know that the status quo is not sustainable, but they can do something about it.

And I introduced a sequence that almost looks too simple until you watch it work.

Self-interest, transaction, recognition, and then humanity.

I called it STIR.

And I called it STIR on purpose.

Because if you do not stir the room, you get positions sitting next to each other forever.