Editorial comment: a great burden is being placed upon the shoulders of the Middle East region's youth, if the Petra III Nobel Laureates meeting held in Jordan in mid-May is anything to go by.

It is a well recognised fact that more than 50% of the region's population is under the age of 18 and that issues concerning youth--making sure young people receive a good education and working to ensure that on completion of their schooling they will have fulltime employment--is a priority of all forward-looking governments.

Building a better world, was the topic of the third Petra conference, sponsored by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity where, following thought provoking keynote addresses by King Abdullah, retired UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Professor Wiesel, and a fascinating question and answer session between the latter and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, more than 20 young people from across the Middle East took part in a frank discussion about their aspirations for their own futures and those of the region.

Nobel Laureates changed the world with a single question, King Abdullah noted in his opening address: that question was "What if?". His Majesty went on to speculate: "What if peace groups work together across the divides? What if there is a new way to give poor people economic power in their lives? What if the marvels of molecular science, laser optics and much, much more can be unlocked? What new possibilities for life would these discoveries create?"

The plenary panel on youth, which consisted of more than 20 young people, including some of the best young brains of Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt and Kuwait, seemed to have a pretty good idea of the possibilities if the problem they universally regarded as the major obstacle to progress and development were removed when they asked: "What if there were peace?"

All had grown up in an atmosphere of conflict, if not in their own homelands then in neighbouring states. A young Israeli Jew spoke about the excitement that existed in the Israeli street when the Oslo peace process was under way and the anticipation of achieving some lasting calm appeared imminent. A Palestinian mother of two from the Occupied Territories spoke of how she longed to be able to travel from country to country with her children--as they did in Europe. To have coffee in Jordan or lunch in Lebanon was among the things she wanted most for her children--that they might occupy a global world.

At last, for the participants at Petra, the problem of Arab youth had real faces. These were not the indulged children of millionaire Gulf businessmen or street urchins with bare feet, they were a cross section of attractive, intelligent human beings who have struggled with a legacy of decades of autocracy and political and economic mismanagement.

"Why in the Arab world does how hard one works so rarely correspond to how far one gets?" "Why does the Middle East region not have more world class universities?" "Why is it difficult to understand that failing to meet expectations that a good education will lead to a decent job might result in bitterness and the frustration that leads to extremist action?"

These young people, of course, are right. They are our collective global future: the surgeon whose skill saves the life of our grandchildren; the agronomist who discovers how to increase crop yield and saves 5,000 lives in Africa; the president with his, or her, finger on the nuclear button. This is the generation we are thinking about and while hypothetical theories about encouraging young people are one thing, putting a name and a face to their disappointment is quite another.

I am 100% with King Abdullah when he says: "The young men and women of this region have incredible talent and energy and character ... they can transform old realities ... they can cross the divides ... agree on justice ... and share in the progress of our century."

It is up to us all to provide them with every assistance. 'Could have done better' must not be the legacy we pass--like a poison chalice--to these young people. "Working together, a new generation in the Middle East can move into a future of hope," said King Abdullah. "It is not a distant dream. Conflict can be a chapter in history books." When you think about it, it's the least we can do.