As a former Portuguese diplomat, who has long understood diplomacy as a humble service to dialogue and peace, I cannot but rejoice at the recent news of a long-awaited agreement in the blood-stained conflict in the Middle East, where so many innocent lives have been lost. Yet my experience has taught me that the path of peace is never linear, nor is it forged only at the negotiation table. It begins in the quiet moment between words – in the silence that allows us to truly hear one another.

Silence, in this sense, is not the absence of speech, but the presence of attention. It is what precedes dialogue and sustains it. In the work of KAICIID, we have learned that dialogue is not a tool for the strong to convince the weak, nor a stage for competing truths. It is a discipline of humility – a way of thinking, reasoning and deciding that stands in quiet contrast to the polarisation that dominates so much of our public life today.

Ours is a time when voices are raised, yet few are truly listened to. Every opinion competes for space, and the noise of confrontation too often replaces the quiet space that allows understanding. Against this backdrop, the silence of dialogue may seem weak or naïve. But in reality, it is a radical act of courage. It is in silence that empathy takes root, and reconciliation becomes possible.

The lessons of my diplomatic past echo in the mission of KAICIID today: dialogue is not a simple solution, but a long practice of coexistence. It does not erase conflict, but it humanises it. And perhaps this is what the world needs most now – not louder provocations or sharper dissents, but a renewed capacity to listen, to pause, to hold the tension of our differences without letting them destroy our shared humanity.

Peace begins there – in the silence of dialogue, where the heart opens and the human voice can finally be heard.