Regional Organization for Peace, Economics, and Security | A New Generation, A New Middle East  

Delegates from Arab countries gather for a meal in Jerusalem as part of the ROPES one week educational tour of Israel and the West Bank.

About Us

ROPES’s mission is to foster regional trilateral partnerships (Israeli-Palestinian-Arab) in areas such as education and the environment. Through these trilateral partnerships, ROPES works to rebuild long-term momentum toward a conflict-ending Middle East agreement.

Inspired by the Arab Peace Initiative, ROPES was founded in 2017 in order to connect forward-thinking Israeli and Palestinian leaders across various industries with like-minded peers across the Arab world. These industries include emerging leaders in politics, business, and journalism, among other fields. The organization began its work on the principle that a post-conflict Middle East, one in which the State of Israel and a State of Palestine are fully integrated into the broader region, was not only possible but imperative. Since then, ROPES has worked to rally and connect both existing and emerging leaders in Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world as a mechanism of building a post-conflict reality.

Today, our growing alumni network includes members of parliament, diplomats, journalists, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other young changemakers from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and ten Arab countries. We are united by our vision of a post-conflict Middle East in which the State of Israel and a well-governed, territorially viable State of Palestine are fully integrated into the region.

To hear more from our network, click the link below:

PROGRAMS

  • Since late 2019, ROPES has held five international summits bringing together emerging leaders from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and across the Middle East and North Africa. These programs–held in Paris (2019), Zoom (2020), Vienna (2021), Tbilisi (2023), and Larnaca (2024)--have included a carefully-crafted mix of group discussions, interactive speaker sessions, local excursions, and working groups to brainstorm joint projects that facilitate cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians, and regional partners. ROPES plans to hold its sixth summit this summer.

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  • Since mid-2022, ROPES has brought two delegations of regional emerging leaders on intensive and politically balanced one-week trips through Israel and the West Bank. Through visits to various sites and meetings with diverse speakers, participants from various Arab countries learned about the historical, political, security, and religious dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and also learned about the cultural and economic vibrance of both societies. Tour stops included Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Hebron, Haifa, Rawabi, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Golan Heights, and Israel’s border with Lebanon.

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  • Fundamental to ROPES’s vision of a post-conflict Middle East and North Africa region is an educational-exchange mechanism–modeled after the European Union’s successful Erasmus+ program–that allows Israeli and Palestinian students the opportunity to study abroad at universities across the region, and for Arab students to have similar opportunities at Israeli and Palestinian universities. In 2022, ROPES held a one-week pilot education program in Dubai for twelve university and post-graduate students from Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. The organization has been holding conversations with universities and education ministries across the region about launching a larger-scale education-exchange mechanism as soon as conditions on the ground allow.

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  • This year, with the support of the U.S. State Department, ROPES is launching a series of educational programs specifically for female journalists and media professionals

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MEDIA

  • Last year, ROPES launched its new podcast (“ROPESCAST”), which every week shines a spotlight on a different individual who is working in his or her own right to advance a post-conflict region. Guests include former high-ranking officials, seasoned experts, and alumni from ROPES’s various programs. See below for a selected archive of past ROPESCAST episodes.

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  • In mid-2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ROPES launched its webinar series, featuring expert panels on timely topics and high-profile Arab, Israeli, Palestinian, and international figures who have worked to resolve the conflict. This ongoing series has included joint webinars with like-minded organizations such as the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. See below for a selected archive of past ROPES webinars.

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GET INVOLVED

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