Beverley Milton-Edwards has a deep understanding of the politics of the Middle East which has made her a unique source of influence in dealing with the problems of that troubled region.
Professor Milton-Edwards has been an academic at Queen’s for 20 years and is Director of the MA programme in Violence, Terrorism and Security. Her particular focus is on radical Islam, with funding for her research coming from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has written nine books on the subject, most recently a co-authored study of Hamas which has been well received – notably by those who have a close interest in that organisation.
Her fascination with the subject began when she was a student at the University of Exeter. ‘I’d signed up for a module on the politics of Eastern Europe but after about the second lecture, where we were looking at the chief exports of Hungary being rose petals for the perfume industry, I decided this wasn’t for me. Instead I found a course on the international history and politics of the Middle East and something clicked.’
She went on an internship to Jerusalem and was there when the first Intifada broke out in 1987. ‘These were extraordinary events, such as I’d never witnessed before - globally a historic, transforming moment.’
Out of that uprising came Hamas. ‘I proposed that I would study this group. People pooh-poohed the idea, saying they were upstarts, here today and gone tomorrow, radical fundamentalist terrorists who’d never talk to me – and especially because I’m a woman. But I got the funding to do it and I joined the school of scholarship based on sheer determination in proving that it could be done.
‘I became the first western researcher to engage with Hamas at that early point of their establishment. I was unique in gaining access"That credibility and integrity of research has been extremely important in terms of creating impact." to them, and I was never refused.
‘That established my credibility as an objective academic researcher. As a result, over the years I have been able to interact with the Israeli intelligence community, the western intelligence community, various other Islamist groups, other Israeli and Palestinian actors. That credibility and integrity of research has been extremely important in terms of creating impact in areas of policy-making and policy influence.’
She has acted as an advisor to, among others, the UK Governments, the Governments of Norway and the Netherlands, and to the EU Foreign Policy and Security Chief. She has played a direct role in ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East and in 1999, at the request of the British Government, held second-track peace negotiations in Belfast with senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Jerusalem.
Towards the end of 2011 she was in Gaza, assisting the Norwegian Government. ‘The smallest thing matters at these meetings, and if they break down there can be serious consequences. An issue came up, almost a social slight, but I was able to calm everybody, put things into context, because the people I’m interacting with know that I know what I’m talking about.
‘Academics aren’t diplomats, but we can bring some perspective. Being able to talk and use language in a way that people in the region understand is very important.’
And now there is the Arab Spring. She has spoken on this to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to the Governments of Norway, Finland, Denmark and Holland. ‘Much of my work focuses on the democracy deficit in the Middle East. What’s taking place in the region is very much something that scholars like myself had predicted.’
She says, ‘In one sense the Arab Spring is a rejection of Jihadi ideologies. We did not see the banner of Jihad raised in Tahrir Square, but political Islam is still part of the movement in the shape of the Muslim Brotherhood. That presents a huge challenge for the west – whether organisations like that can be considered to be the new interlocutors with Islam after so many decades. It’s an incredibly important turning point for the region, and it’s not over by any stretch of the imagination.’
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