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Lior Lehrs is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of International Relations and The Swiss Center for Conflict Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include conflicts, peacemaking, diplomacy, and mediation, and he works on various conflict areas, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and the Balkans. The journals in which he has published include International Studies Quarterly, International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, and Peacebuilding, and his book Unofficial Peace Diplomacy was published in 2022 by Manchester University Press. Lior was a Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University, a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and the Director of the Program on Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking at Mitvim Institute.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the center of international attention. This is in stark contrast to the situation in recent years, when the issue has been sidelined in the international discourse and the question of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has almost disappeared from the diplomatic agenda.
To recognize or not to recognize: EU recognition of Palestine
Recognition of a Palestinian state is one of the potential responses European Union states are mulling in response to an Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank, with the foreign minister of Luxembourg, for example, declaring such a move “inevitable” in the event of annexation.
Is Trump’s “Deal of the Century” really a peace plan?
The Trump administration is preparing to present the “Deal of the Century,” proposing an outline for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Very little is known about the plan so far. However, it is important to discuss the context and the conditions under which it has been formulated, and to highlight some basic elements that are required for a third party to promote a peace plan — which are absent in this case.
