No one in Gaza is under the illusion that peace is fully here. The cease-fire agreement announced on Wednesday in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, repre­sents the first phase of a U.S.-brokered plan: Hostil­ities are to pause, the Israeli military will pull back to agreed-on positions and Hamas is to release all hostages in exchange for Pales­tinian prisoners. Human­i­tarian access is expected to increase, and more detailed arrange­ments for recon­struction, gover­nance and security will be negotiated in subse­quent phases. While these steps are signif­icant, the hard work now begins — turning promises into realities, and ensuring that rebuilding does not stop at concrete and steel but extends to trust and coexistence.

The Centre for Liberal Modernity together with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation cordially invite you to attend our inter­na­tional conference ‘Geopo­litical Zeiten­wende? Ukraine and the Future of the EU’ on Wednesday, 12 November 2025 at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Academy.

A year of dialogue: Israelis, Pales­tinians, and regional actors are working together in the Middle East Network to discuss ways out of the war in Gaza, the release of hostages, and a peaceful future. On September 15 and 16, the network success­fully concluded its fifth round of dialogue. Organized by the Center for Liberal Modernity, the exchange builds trust, generates new ideas, and, for the first time, brings together voices from politics, civil society, and academia.

When President Emmanuel Macron sat down with Israel’s Channel 12, he declared that appointing a vice president to the Pales­tinian Authority was a suffi­cient reform step to justify France’s recog­nition of a Pales­tinian state. With those words, Macron handed Mahmoud Abbas a free pass—applauding a cosmetic gesture while ignoring the single reform Pales­tinians have been demanding for nearly two decades: the right to vote in free presi­dential and legislative elections.

For almost two years – since October 7, 2023, when the terrorist organi­zation Hamas attacked Israel, murdered 1,200 civilians, and took 240 hostages – war has been raging in Gaza. The conflict is being fought with unrelenting ferocity – on both sides. Kerstin Müller, Program Director for the Middle East Network, assesses the current situation and explains why recog­nizing a Pales­tinian state would currently be purely symbolic politics.

The Middle East Network consists of a small group of political experts, activists, and repre­sen­ta­tives from think tanks and NGOs from Israel, the Pales­tinian Terri­tories, as well as regional actors from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In this short video, several members share what motivates them to work toward changing the dynamics of the conflict and what oppor­tu­nities they see in the crisis.

The Center for Liberal Modernity cordially invites you to its annual panel discussion “Russia and the West” in Berlin on Thursday, 16 October 2025.

In the run-up to the Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Thomas Enders (President of the Council on Foreign Relations), Marieluise Beck and Ralf Fücks (Center for Liberal Modernity) have issued an appeal to the German government, naming five essen­tials that Europe must now stand for.

The parlia­mentary elections on September 28 will be historic in Moldova, even if the outcome is still uncertain. Various scenarios are possible: Will Moldova succeed in pushing ahead with EU accession as protection against a perceived threat from Russia? Much depends on how the population reacts to frustration and fears, as Denis Cenusa analyzes for us.