Living in the Middle East, these values are hardly met, both at the level of countries and at the level of one single state, even within the smaller local societies. The predominant religion is Islam and the values of Islam are based on equity and justice. I have always questioned myself that if the leaders of the Middle Eastern states are not applying Islamic values due to external pressure, why are people at the community level not applying them?

From a young age onwards, I was accompanying my father who was solving problems and mediating conflict of neighbors and at the bigger family level. Using cultural and religious values and ethics to overcome the problem, he always believed in the potency of traditional systems. I always questioned why it was necessary for my father to remind people of their Islamic ethics and values – as in most cases they provided the answers to end a dispute? Why did they not simply remind themselves? My father’s permanent answer: they are suffering already so much; may the almighty Allah help them.

I myself experienced injustice when, decades later, I was working for the Government of Jordan, having reached a very advanced position. There I noticed that certain positions were not available for those with the right capacities, but only for those who have high-level connections – to the ministerial level, or even above.

Later, I retired from my Government post and started working as legal expert and mediator providing my experience and consultancy services to the Magistrate and Appeal Courts of Jordan. Impressed with my services, a judge from the appeal court appointed me as representative/arbitrator of the government in an arbitration dispute. This was the starting point in my new career as arbitrator. In subsequent years I obtained membership with the Jordanian Arbitration Association, followed by a membership of the Arab Federation for the Protection of “intellectual property rights”.

Justice is my passion. I dedicated my life seeking justice. However, through my Masters Studies on Transformation Management at the University of Buckingham in the UK in about 2005, I did not directly focus on justice, but rather put emphasis on knowledge creation and knowledge management. For me, these fields have a direct relationship to equity and justice. This was confirmed in my work, during the past ten years.

My life-long dedication to add value to society, learning and knowledge creation culminated in my enrolment in the PhD program of Trans4m and Da Vinci Institute. My integral PhD journey offers me an avenue to help me resolving disputes in various fields – not only in projects related to engineering and construction disputes, but also as a tribal clan leader. In time, an integral dispute resolution Center will be established with my associates. Keeping close links with Trans4m, I believe such a center will help to the Integral Conflict Resolution journey farther to help disputes in the Middle East and the Arab world.