An event titled “Advancing Peace and Prosperity in the Region and Beyond” was held on campus, in collaboration with the University for Peace and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation
On Thursday, November 28, 2024, Reichman University’s Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy and Raphael Recanati International School hosted an event dedicated to honoring the legacy of Shimon Peres. The gathering, held in collaboration with the University for Peace and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, focused on advancing peace and prosperity in the Middle East and beyond.
The event featured keynote speaker Ambassador David Fernández Puyana, Permanent Observer to the United Nations University for Peace in Geneva, and marked his second visit to Reichman University. Ambassador Fernández Puyana emphasized the critical role of education in fostering peace, stating, “Education is a security issue. Educating our students is a way to guarantee peace and prosperity in the future.”
Chemi Peres, Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, delivered opening remarks, underscoring the necessity of forward-thinking strategies: “Looking at yesterday isn’t enough. We need to think of tomorrow. Some people might think that making peace is hard. But the absence of peace is not sustainable.”
The program included greetings from Reichman University President Prof. Boaz Ganor, who reflected on the event’s theme, saying, “What is a decisive victory in the current conflict? A decisive victory is peace.”
A panel discussion moderated by Dr. Daphné Richemond-Barak of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy, featured speakers Dr. Sarah Feuer of the Lauder School, Dr. Michael Barak, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), and Nadav Tamir, senior adviser for International Affairs at the Peres Center.
The panel addressed topics including the enduring relevance of the Abraham Accords and the challenges of negotiating under trauma. Dr. Richemond-Barak highlighted the importance of preserving and enhancing the accords, stating, “We have been entrusted with the task of preserving the Abraham Accords and giving them meaning. We at Reichman University are working to enhance academic cooperation with Abraham Accords countries — even in these difficult times.”
Dr. Barak expressed optimism for the future, envisioning the expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia, while Dr. Sarah Feuer raised critical questions about Israel’s current challenges: “How do we negotiate under trauma? This is a serious challenge facing Israel right now.”
The event also celebrated the ongoing collaboration between Reichman University and the University for Peace, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding in 2022. This partnership, recently highlighted in a report by the University for Peace to the UN Secretary-General, has fostered opportunities for students and faculty to engage with global audiences on issues of peace and security. A significant milestone in this collaboration was the presentation of the book The Shimon Peres Legacy through Fourteen Historical Speeches, edited by Ambassador Fernández Puyana and Dr. Richemond-Barak, at the United Nations in Geneva in 2023.
The gathering served as a reminder of Shimon Peres’s vision and the collective responsibility to advance his legacy at a time of increased tensions in the Middle East.
