Book event | The Economic Diplomacy of Peace in the Middle East: Paris Protocols to the Oslo Accords

Dr Libby Lahar, Visiting Fellow and PhD alumna at the International Institute of Social Studies, joins a panel of distinguished experts to examine Europe’s role in shaping the political future and economic viability of Palestine. The discussion draws on her new book, The Economic Diplomacy of Peace in the Middle East: Paris Protocol to the Oslo Accords.

More than two and a half years after the outbreak of the Gaza war, and despite a ceasefire, Gaza remains engulfed in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis while violence and displacement in the West Bank continue to escalate. Meanwhile, the stalled US-Iran conflict and the easing of US sanctions on Russia are redrawing the geopolitical map of the Middle East — raising pressing questions about where Europe stands and what role it can play in Palestine’s future.

The panel will explore how economic diplomacy, bilateral trade, and political incentives have shaped the peace process — from the Oslo Accords to the 2020 Abraham Accords and the negotiations unfolding today. Lahar’s book offers a lens through which to understand both the promise of Oslo and the forces that ultimately derailed it.

Speakers

• Jan Pronk — Former Minister of International Development Cooperation of the Netherlands during the Oslo Peace Process
• Robert Serry — Former United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
• Rajaa Natour — Investigative journalist and political analyst (Middle East & Europe)
• Libby Lahar — ISS Guest Researcher and moderator