You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

The traditional peace-building playbook says start with empathy, build dialogue, find common ground.

But after four decades spent living and working inside conflict zones,

mediator and political strategist Hibba Kassas thinks we're getting it wrong. So why does peace

break down when we do everything we think we're supposed to do? The answer I kept coming back to

was not ideology. It was power, politics, and incentives. And for the broader public,

it was legitimacy and trust. Without these, a peace agreement becomes a lid on a boiling pot. It looks

calm until the pressure finds the weakest point, then it erupts.

In this talk, Hibah, who is the founder of the Principles for Peace Foundation, makes the case that the traditional playbook mistakes process for progress, building elaborate systems that look good on paper but lack the legitimacy to actually hold.

She introduces a framework for peacemaking that starts where most people wouldn't expect. Self-interest. It's an approach that

has brought hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian leaders into an active coalition working together

even in the midst of war. And stick around after her talk. I sat down with Hibba to go beyond the

ideas she shared on stage, including what finally pulled her back to her own conflict,

why she believes war has become a reflex rather than a last resort and what the rest of us

can actually do about it. And I think we've seen a trend where war and violence is becoming

more and more the choice. We're living in one of the least peaceful moments in modern history.

We have the largest number of conflicts since World War II.

Her talk and our conversation are coming up right after a short break. And now our TED Talk and conversation of the day.

I have spent the last four decades in the reality of conflict.

As a child, as a mother, and as a professional.

And I'm not the exception.

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