Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Henrik Urdal praised the great positive efforts made by the State of Qatar to build peace, indicating that Qatar has succeeded in finding solutions to many prominent issues in the Middle East and the world.
In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), Urdal affirmed the importance of finding solutions to deep-rooted conflicts in the Middle East, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, highlighting Qatar's role in ensuring mediation efforts.
He expressed deep concern about the current situation in the Gaza Strip, where the UN said that the actions taken by Israeli forces in Gaza may amount to genocide. He emphasized the need to reach a ceasefire agreement and find political solutions.
Urdal added that political solutions must include all Palestinian territories and a commitment by the Israelis to withdraw from the areas they currently occupy and provide security and political guarantees from neighboring countries, including the State of Qatar, which plays an important positive role in this conflict.
PRIO Director pointed out the importance of ensuring the provision of political solutions that give people the right to manage and direct their political entities, as this is the reason behind the new momentum for the two-state solution, indicating that Norway recognized the State of Palestine as an important first step towards finding a political solution.
He pointed out that Gaza is now in urgent need of rebuilding health care, education, and infrastructure after the intensive bombardment of the Strip, pointing to the importance of investing in these aspects as part of the political solution in the future.
Urdal said that the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Norway bear a significant responsibility and have a clear policy to work towards building peace, emphasizing the importance for countries like Qatar and Norway to assume this role, given the current huge investment in armament, calling at the same time for investment in diplomacy and mediation to contribute to resolving conflicts instead of weapons.
Henrik Urdal underlined the diplomatic successes achieved by the State of Qatar over the past years in the Middle East and the world, highlighting the mediation efforts in areas such as Afghanistan and Darfur in the past and now in Ukraine.
He pointed out that the State of Qatar and Norway have many things in common, as the two countries follow the same approach in speaking to all parties to facilitate dialogue between them and encourage them to sit at the negotiating table, in addition to the great bilateral international relations enjoyed by the two countries.
PRIO Director expressed his hope that Norway would be able to contribute to the resolution of conflicts in the Middle East, noting the importance of the effective Qatari role in this regard.
He affirmed the importance of the continuation to conduct independent research and studies to understand diplomacy and realize how to invest in capabilities that lead to achieving the best results with the least amount of harm, calling for Qatar and Norway to be open to this type of research, to learn how to invest their capabilities in achieving growth and progress.
Henrik Urdal expressed hope that there will be Qatari and Norwegian investments in research, especially since much of global research today is moving towards investing in military capabilities, stressing the importance of investing in funding with diplomatic measures that support the peace mediation efforts made by Qatar and Norway.
He explained that the PRIO cooperates with many institutions in the region, such as the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI). The PRIO has a high level of global competence in conflict analysis.
PRIO Director Henrik Urdal concluded his interview with QNA by saying that the PRIO has many capabilities that it would like to share with academics and officials in the region to achieve the required benefit from the research conducted in various fields. (
