A peace fund modelled on an initiative from Northern Ireland could be launched by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer within months, The National can reveal, as the UK seeks to bolster its role as a peacemaker in the Gaza conflict.
But critics say that a key element from the Northern Ireland peace process is missing in the Gaza plan: the inclusion of Palestinian voices.
“There are many lessons to apply from Northern Ireland, but I don't see them reflected in the Gaza peace plan,” said mediator Oliver McTernan, founder of conflict resolution charity Forward Thinking, who has worked on both conflicts.
The ceasefire in Gaza is intended to lead to rebuilding the strip and a peace process being initiated under US President Donald Trump's plan. The UK government is hosting a three-day summit for the reconstruction of Gaza, which began as Mr Starmer attended a signing ceremony in Egypt finalising the truce on Monday.
Mr Starmer said in Cairo that the UK was ready to “play its full part” in monitoring the ceasefire and decommissioning Hamas’s capability and weaponry. He said the UK would draw on its experience of decommissioning the IRA and other paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.
former UK consul general to Jerusalem
“Decommissioning of weaponry is hugely important for the future peace,” he said. “We have got experience in this in relation to Northern Ireland and decommissioning of the IRA’s weaponry. That’s why I’ve suggested the UK would be well placed to carry out that vital role.”
The principles of co-operation and reconciliation that underline the Good Friday Agreement are sometimes described as applicable to the Israel-Palestine conflict – not least by former prime minister Tony Blair who is set to play a role in the governance of post-war Gaza.
The agreement signed in 1998 recognised the aspirations of both sides of the conflict − the nationalists and the unionists. It created a new government for Northern Ireland representing both sides of the conflict. Armed groups including the IRA, agreed to disarm, and the UK scaled back its military presence.
Yet the decommissioning of arms, which was overseen by the Canadian general and diplomat John de Chastelain, took seven years and faced major hurdles along the way, with its initial 2001 deadline passing without full disarmament.
UK seeks a role
Reports suggest the UK government wants a separate role from Mr Blair in Gaza, and to make its own mark in the peace process.
There are expectations now that Mr Starmer will lead efforts by the E3, a coalition that includes France and Germany, to set out a reconciliation strategy that deals with issues such as trauma and dehumanisation.
Their inaugural meeting would take place by December and include backing for the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, according to its organisers, the Alliance of Middle East Peace (Allmep), a coalition of more than 160 NGOs.
Mr Starmer had pledged to support the fund at the end of last year, but a planned fundraising conference in April did not take place. The fund aims to support civil society and peace builders in Israel and Palestine, to bring about reconciliation.
It has been modelled on the International Fund for Ireland, which was founded by the British and Irish government in 1986 to support peace building initiatives between nationalists and unionists.
Allmep officials say this helped create conditions on the ground for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, but acknowledge that the devastation in Gaza is greater than the experience in Northern Ireland, changing the requirements.
“Since October 7, the Israel-Palestine conflict jumped to a different level. Gaza has been devastated to levels that Northern Ireland never was,” said John Lyndon, executive director of Allmep.
“By developing a civil society strategy, like with this international fund concept, we can ensure that diplomacy has a ground game and can engage ordinary Palestinians,” he said.
It comes amid confusion about the UK government's current role in the US-brokered ceasefire. UK ministers have claimed the government helped pave the way for the breakthrough, which US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee dismissed as “delusional”.
Yet more questions were raised after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff praised the “incredible input and tireless efforts” of the UK’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell.
Mr Powell served as chief negotiator in the Northern Ireland peace process under then prime minister Mr Blair.
His charity Inter/Mediate, which he cofounded in 2011, played key mediation roles in the Turkish conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and conflict involving the rebel-led opposition government of Idlib in northern Syria, before the toppling of president Bashar Al Assad last year.
It is believed Mr Powell played a role in maintaining US-UK relations as Mr Starmer prepared to recognise Palestine in September. He also briefed MPs about the recognition process.
Limitations
The calls for Palestinians to take charge of Gaza's recovery are likely to grow stronger.
Throughout the war, Mr McTernan worked with young Palestinians displaced from Gaza and those in the occupied West Bank to understand the daily issues that impact them and how they envision the future of their country.
“Palestinians can govern themselves. It needs to be an inclusive process,” he told The National.
“Northern Ireland was the product of an inclusive process. This is a unilateral declaration by US President Trump agreed to by people fearful of getting on the wrong side of him.”
“It's the continued management of Israel's occupation. It's a distraction from the main issue and the main issue is occupation,” he said.
While the IRA were part of peace negotiations with the UK government, the current ceasefire deal requires that Hamas plays no role in the future governance of Gaza.
And, though both sides wanted the war to stop, the Israeli government continues to reject a two-state solution, while a Pew Centre poll in June found that public support for this in Israel was at an all-time low of 21 per cent.
“The relative peace in Northern Ireland is not total but partly came from the realisation on both sides that neither side could win. Both communities were tired of violence, fear and burnt out homes,” said Sir Vincent Fean, former UK consul general to Jerusalem.
Mr McTernan said: “They realised peace only came through when you have justice. Then we got rid of the cycle of violence that had plagued Ireland for centuries.”
There is a risk of repeating the “mistakes made in Iraq” Mr McTernan said. This included an internationally-led provisional government and the process of de-Baathification – where people involved in Saddam Hussein's regime were excluded from the country's future governance.
Working on peace building among communities was crucial as Israel readies for elections within the next year. Though the Palestinian Authority has also pledged to hold its first elections in 30 years, official says this would depend on the stability on the ground in Gaza.
There was an opportunity for leaders to build grassroots support for two states, Mr Lyndon said. “Trump has a huge role to play here because he is more convincing to Israelis than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or indeed anybody else alive,” he said.
Polling by Allmep found that he was 3 times more effective in persuading Israelis to support a diplomatic process, than any other figure internationally or locally. “If he makes it a policy priority, he can create more support and goodwill towards two states,” said Mr McTernan.
