 My name is Gary Mason, Reverend Doctor, and my background is in psychology and theology. I've worked in the area of peace building now for 35 years, primarily in the Irish context, particularly in that Northern Irish peace process, but in the last 10 plus years, I've been working more extensively in the Middle East, really doing some of the lessons from our peace process and their possible applicability to that contested space. I'm at USAP with relationships I've had here going back six or seven years, and just reconnecting, trying to share a little bit about my experiences with my colleagues in USIP. I think one of the key things is patience. This did not happen overnight. I mean, really, right through the conflict. So I often say, as long as there was a war, there were talks about peace. So our conflict breaks out summer, 1969, and interestingly, common wisdom of the day said that when British troops arrived in that Northern part of Ireland, many people were saying, this will be over by Christmas. It ended up the longest military operation in British history, and your viewers need no remember. The British have fought an awful lot of wars, so it was important that religious actors were there for the long term. They weren't dipping in and dipping out again, and that just made such a difference. So looking at the Middle East, which most people see as a very, very contested space, the role of religious actors in that is absolutely key. We could argue, is it a religious conflict? Is it an identity conflict? Is it a land? I would say that all those components are bubbling about sometimes below the surface, I would say, and sometimes above the surface as well. I think religious actors, as I look particularly at that Northern Irish space, we were able to take what I call a thoughtful, strategic, prophetic risk as some other people couldn't. We were not necessarily, although we grew up within a particular tribe, I think we realised that our faith had to transcend differences and build bridges over those differences. So many faith actors took really risks to engage particularly with those who were pursuing political violence and really creating what I kind of called a moral framework, really asking these people questions like, is this the future you want for your children and your children's children? Or are there other ways that we can explore in this tiny island of Ireland to handle our differences? And that was key in some of those early days. I mean, I knew both the British, Irish and the American administrations couldn't necessarily talk to people who at that times were non-state armed actors, but religious people were able to step into those difficult contested spaces in a way that many others weren't. I think one of the key things for people coming from a religious persuasion, I would look at that in two ways. I think growing up in those spaces where there has been conflict and difficulty, I think religious actors have this ability to develop relationships that very, very few professions can actually develop. When we have most times accessibility to people's homes in a way that many other professions don't, and it almost becomes a birth-to-death relationship as well. I look at families that I knew 20, 25 years ago who would still stop me in the street and remind me, oh, do you remember you did a funeral for this person or you baptised my child? So I think the longevity of those relationships as a person who's been involved in peace-building brings trust and also understanding. And I think that's a key component to know that we're not coming here to impose something on you, but for the greater good of humanity, I wanna hear your story, I wanna understand your pain, but most of all, I want you to thrive as a human being near the image of God.