From Destruction to Sustainable Regional Recovery

Sep 18, 2025 - Sep 19, 2025 | Duke University
Washington, DC
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Duke University’s Provost Initiative on the Middle East is an ongoing effort at Duke University to establish rigorous and respectful debate in which differing perspectives are welcome on current and past conflicts in the region, and also engage Duke faculty and students in projects working with partners in the region. As part of this initiative Duke University is partnering with two Middle East civil society organizations, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (IL) and Damour for Community Development (PA) to convene a conference in Washington D.C., September 18-19, 2025, bringing together Palestinian and Israeli voices to strategize ways to move from destruction towards sustainable regional recovery in the Middle East.

The Arava Institute and Damour hosted a unique invitation-only conference in Athens, Greece at the end of January 2025, convening 60 Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian water, energy, food security and environmental (WEFE) experts from academia, non-governmental and governmental organizations. The conference focused on the security of supply of services in the region with an emphasis on Gazan recovery and development.  The result of the conference was the decision by Damour and the Arava Institute to pursue seven initiatives to improve natural resource supplies and humanitarian wellbeing. Since the beginning of February, seven project groups have been established and are meeting once every two weeks virtually or in person. Palestinian and Israeli experts discuss practical ways to advance projects, which will provide more drinking water, sanitation, water for agriculture, electricity, food security and natural services to vulnerable peoples in the region. 

Building on this initial success, the goals of the DC “From Destruction to Sustainable Regional Recovery” are to:

• Assess the current situation in the Middle East including Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and its neighbours, including stress on all natural resources and infrastructure.
• Engage the US Administration in a pragmatic process to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank’s economies to support growth and prosperity and reduce extremism and violence.
• Explore how the Abraham Accords can be leveraged to support the rebuilding and recovery of the region.
• Showcase ongoing and new cross-border cooperative resource and infrastructure initiatives between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians and how the Track II format enables cooperation even during periods of political turbulence, supporting a foundation of stability in the region.
• Focus on practical steps with rapid responses to real life challenges and improvement in people’s lives even before broader agreements are reached.
• Explore funding opportunities that will enable cross-border cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians to take hold, develop, and flourish.
• Widen the focus to view the challenges and opportunities within a regional context beyond Israel, Gaza, West Bank and Jordan.
• Address broader political issues affecting Palestinian Israeli relations with a political horizon, alongside a diplomatic process moving towards a two-state solution.