Quoted in the Observer newspaper, TSG's CEO says that “The Israeli government is not in any hurry and Hamas is not to be disarmed anytime soon”. If progress is stalled, he says, it is Palestinians who will yet again pay the price.

There is a serious effort now to create a durable ceasefire, TSG CEO Salman Shaikh tells TRT world. But there is a lot of hard work to do if we are to get to the “eternal peace” that Donald Trump talks about.

There is a beginning, a middle and an end to the whole peace process, TSG CEO Salman Shaikh tells Al Jazeera. There needs to be an international stabilisation force, no return to cosy dealmaking between Israel and the US, a serious plan for Palestinian governance in the West Bank and Gaza - and keeping the momentum going is vital.

Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Salman Shaikh says that the proposed Gaza peace board has “to be fairer and more balanced”, and questions whether the participation of former UK PM Tony Blair contributes to that aim.

Agreement on an implementation plan and monitoring mechanism for Gaza is vital, TSG's CEO tells Al Jazeera. Israel cannot redefine and have the last word on Trump's framework - and nor can international politicians who are just trying to make names for themselves.

For many Palestinians and others in the region, it's "thanks, but no thanks" to a frontline role for Britain's former prime minister, Salman Shaikh tells Matt Frei on LBC.

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The scenario now is more war and more annihilation in Gaza, and the US does not appear keen to stop this. The danger is that the US allows Netanyahu to drag Washington into an endless, forever war. Now that the UN has clearly described it as a state committing genocide, we need a movement that collectively sanctions Israel, TSG's CEO tells Al Jazeera.

Confidence in the US as a security guarantor and ally in the region has been severely strained, says Salman Shaikh. Speaking to the BBC as Marco Rubio visits Israel while the Arab and Islamic Summit takes place in Doha, he says Gulf states may now look elsewhere – to Europe, and possibly to China and Russia.

If President Trump does not exert the pressure only he can on the Israeli leadership, the United States will be in an endless war in the Middle East, says TSG CEO Salman Shaikh, speaking live to Al Jazeera in Doha in the aftermath of the deadly Israeli strikes on the city.

At a Chatham House event in London, TSG’s CEO Salman Shaikh asked Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, about current events in the West Bank. His response resulted in the following news story in The National, Abu Dhabi: Palestine's Zomlot warns West Bank annexation complete in all but name | The National

TSG Founder and CEO Salman Shaikh and MENA Programme Director Sahar Attrache met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at his office in the Baabda Palace to discuss opportunities and challenges in his country and the region. “Having known Lebanon for 30 years, we believe now is the moment to support the country and its leadership in its development,” said Salman Shaikh. “TSG looks forward to contributing to these efforts.”

Syria is at a very dangerous moment right now, says TSG CEO Salman Shaikh, appearing on BBC World. We are starting to see a sectarian fragility that underlines that the transition is not going as well the international community thought. Something fundamental now has to change. The government has to build trust through political confidence building - and the Trump administration may have an important role to play, including in a possible international presence on the ground.

Interviewed by Simon Marks on his evening show on LBC, the UK’s premier commercial radio news station, TSG’s CEO offered analysis on the Iranian attack on the Al Udeid US air base in Qatar. “We can’t risk further escalation,” he said. “We must get back to diplomacy.”

De facto annexation of the West Bank is already happening, says Salman Shaikh. There was once a notion that settlements were a bargaining chip for future negotiations on Palestinian statehood. That’s no longer the case. Nationalists have formed alliances with settlement leaders with the full-term aim of annexing the West Bank.

Salman Shaikh appears on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story. The international community is still not acting forcefully enough, he said. Recognising a Palestinian state may be the last best hope we have.

The lifting of sanctions on Syria should prompt important discussions about how the whole region is connected, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf, says Salman Shaikh. With the EU and the US both taking a more positive view of Damascus, the work must begin in both Syria and Lebanon to realise the potential that’s now there.

@Salman_Shaikh1 says the road ahead is difficult but a certain degree of stability has been established in Syria with the transitional government.

As the US takes the unprecedented step of negotiating directly with Hamas, Salman Shaikh says President Donald Trump is now impatient with both sides in the Gaza conflict. There are many moving parts at the moment, he says. “We either go towards more war, or to what Trump wants, which is a deal, which starts with, and crucially includes, the release of all hostages.”

Following the fall of the Assad regime, TSG's regional team visited Syria in December 2024 and January 2025. Together with its team inside Syria, TSG held a series of meetings with representatives of the authorities, local figures, and civil society actors in Damascus, the coast, Suwayda, and northeast Syria, as well as with UN officials and foreign diplomats. TSG also convened several dialogue sessions to discuss the transition in Syria, including a women's dialogue group in Damascus.

In two articles, TSG's CEO discusses the "highly adaptive and pragmatic" nature of Saudi diplomacy, and the transition in Syria. For the latter, it's less a question of timing, he says, more about how a transition can be carried out in such a complex society.

On 7 and 8 December 2024, TSG held two high-level meetings on the sideline of the Doha Forum in Qatar, one focusing on Israel-Palestine, and the other on Gulf Maritime Security. TSG brought together international and Arab experts and officials to discuss recent and current developments, and explored pathways to peace and stability in the region going forward.

Interviewed by Al Jazeera, Salman Shaikh elaborates on what is needed to take the country through a potentially "very dangerous period".

Lebanon ceasefire: international funding and political support will be crucial, says TSG CEO Salman Shaikh quoted in AP report published in the Washington Post, Asharq Al-Awsat, MSN, and many other news outlets around the world.

As part of its initiative for food security and cooperation in the Gulf region, TSG convened a meeting between members of the private sector in Dubai and stakeholders from Iran in April 2024. TSG also cooperated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at the Future Food Forum in Dubai in October 2024, bringing together businesspeople from the UAE, Iran, Egypt, and India, to discuss food security and opportunities for greater collaboration.

As new talks take place in Doha, Salman Shaikh discusses the prospects for peace in an interview with Al Jazeera’s Inside Story. watch video…

In May 2024, TSG collaborated with Qatar Economic Forum, hosting a public panel for the second consecutive year at this high-level event organised by Bloomberg. The panel discussed the security dynamics in the Middle East with a particular focus on the Gaza war, food security, and the impact on international economic ties.

The Financial Times reports on the back-channel talks the Shaikh Group convened in Geneva in July and October 2023. read full article …

Salman Shaikh says US President Joe Biden has badly misjudged Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and that he and his government are a “runaway train” who are driving...watch video

Salman Shaikh speaks to Jeune Afrique about inclusive peacebuilding and The Shaikh Group’s new PeaceTech Initiative at the 2019 Paris Peace Forum

Salman Shaikh speaks at the 2019 TRT World Forum on the current geopolitical context and resultant challenges to multilateral cooperation.

TRT World's correspondent Simon McGregor-Wood talks to Salman Shaikh about how the new world order is impacting peace-building process in the Middle East.

Salman Shaikh speaks about Idlib and Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance.

Empower Syrians to determine their future. A new Constitution writing process could be part of that.

As President Trump prepares to meet Russia's President Putin, the founder of The Shaikh Group discusses his work trying to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.

As the Syrian conflict enters its 5th year, thousands of Syrians have left their homes as refugee...

A U.N. envoy managed to keep the Syrian opposition in Geneva after the group announced it would pause its participation in peace talks.

It was never going to be easy to work out a truce in Syria. And the latest escalation of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia is likely to spill over into the Syria talks.

The U.S. has pledged financial and other non-lethal support for rebel factions now engaged in a two-year long civil war with Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime ...

How can stakeholders secure Syria's future political, economic and social viability vis-à-vis developments on the ground?

Salman Shaikh, Director of the Brookings Doha Center and a Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, is a prominent voice on conflict resolution issues ...