Road to peace is clear but...

Everyone at Sharm Al Shaikh agreed that they all knew the shape of the final deal that will bring peace to Palestine and Israel. The two-state solution has been discussed by all parties, and reviewed privately by many others, and a broad consensus has emerged, which is agreed by moderates and radicals on all sides.

The pre-1967 boundaries of Israel will be the future boundaries, there will be some negotiations on colonies although the majority will be removed, Occupied Jerusalem will be the capital for both. As one speaker said: "Even the plumbing for the joint capital has been agreed."

So why is there no hope surrounding the Annapolis peace process? The consensus of the delegates at Sharm was that no one feels the Americans are committed to making it happen, and because of that the Israelis are not taking it seriously. As a result, many politicians and leaders in the Arab world will not wreck their credibility by saying they believe it can happen, and are not even working to make it happen.

Rhetoric and reality

This disconnection between rhetoric and reality has a deep resonance across the region. Every World Economic Forum has a contingent of young students who take part in the discussions. Their views often sharply contrast with those of the elders, and no bad thing.

In the BBC debate both Israeli and Arab young people spoke of how they felt a deep political apathy and a growing disconnect from their governments. This was picked up by Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who challenged them to get involved.

But the truth is that in a Middle East with 65 per cent of its population under 25 years old, the challenge is the other way round. In 10 years around 80 per cent of the Middle East will be under 35 years old, and they will be a highly informed, globally aware and demanding population. That 80 per cent will go they way they wants to, regardless of their leaders. The only real question in any country will be: "Has the leadership managed to interest the 80 per cent in what they offered?".

Long journeys

Sharm Al Shaikh is spread out over many kilometres of coastline, and the conference centre is out of town near the airport. As a result, all delegates spend many hours sitting in buses.

No one has yet to invent a tourist coach friendly seating plan. They all have small aisles, no leg room, and high seats making conversation with your neighbours in front and behind very difficult.

Nonetheless, the totally random nature of the buses lead to many meetings with all sorts of interesting people. Unfortunately, in that situation mostly we complained about the buses, rather than concentrating on saving the Middle East.