About 150 Israeli and Palestinian activists met in Paris on Friday and called on the Group of Seven leaders convening in France next week to enforce a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to pursue a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Activists held placards placards that read slogans like "peace," "freedom" and "justice" in English, Arabic, Hebrew and French on a bridge near the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral.
“The region continues to fracture. Gaza is devastated, Israel remains under threat,” said the Paris Call for the Two-State Solution issued after the meeting. “Settler terrorism, settlement expansion and de facto annexation and threats to the Palestinian Authority continue to undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state.”
Gaza must be rebuilt for its people with a “transparent, multiyear mechanism with real Palestinian ownership”, the statement read.
It was handed to the meeting's host, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, and 14 other ministers largely from Europe and Arab states. The second part of the 20-point Trump plan for Gaza has yet to be implemented since a fragile ceasefire was agreed in October.
“We receive these recommendations with gravity and with the same hope that inspires you,” Mr Barrot said. “You can count on us to relay them to world leaders, starting with those who will be present in a few days at the G7 summit chaired by France in Evian.”
Activists at the meeting, held at the Arab World Institute, also called on the international community to further support the Palestinian Authority, which is barely able to provide basic services because its tax revenue is being withheld by the Israeli government. Palestinian elections should also be held this year, to end a 20-year hiatus, they said.
'Bravery'
Mr Barrot welcomed the “bravery” shown by participants in coming to France for the second year in a row. Last year, hundreds gathered in Paris months before France and 10 other western states recognised Palestinian statehood.
who lost his mother in the October 7 attacks
The EU pledged an additional €20 million for grass roots peace-building efforts. “Israelis and Palestinians working together for peace in the middle of the war … is not only an act of courage, it is also a source of hope,” the EU's foreign affairs minister Kaja Kallas said.
Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand announced $100 million in funding to support Palestinians. Ms Anand also said her country would contribute $2 million over the next three years to a British-Australian peace fund announced earlier this week. The Israeli and Palestinian activists called on more states to join the fund.
Israeli and Palestinian political leaders were not invited to the meeting. High-level political dialogue has yet to produce solutions to the decades-old conflict.
The conduct of the Israeli government was sharply criticised by participants including Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel. He said he had received a letter from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, complaining about him calling on Germany and Austria to stop blocking EU decisions over Israel because of guilt over the Holocaust.
Israel has to stop restricting deliveries of aid sent to Palestinians in Gaza, Mr Bettel said. “It’s very nice to make announcements,” he said. “But for the moment if it’s not getting into Palestine because Israel isn’t letting things in and it’s closed at the border, there is a problem.”
European states were also criticised by Yonatan Zeigen, who lost his mother in the October 7 attacks. He said recent visa bans by some countries on far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich were not enough and called on state-level sanctions and broad divestment. “How can we be expected to create a new reality when you continue to sponsor the existing one?” Mr Zeigen asked.
Risk of collapse
Earlier in the day, activists sat down together behind closed doors to discuss sensitive topics including regional integration, the threat of Israel's annexation of the West Bank, security and humanitarian action. The National was allowed to report on what was said without naming participants, so they could speak more freely.
There were heated calls for western states to impose sanctions on Israel and ban it from sports tournaments, while some cautioned such moves would only further radicalise the government. Others highlighted that both Israeli and Palestinian societies were governed by fear – fear that a Palestinian state would destroy Israel, and fear that regional integration would destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Palestinians attending were also keen to highlight their desperate economic and security situation. “There is no value added in this conference if there is collapse,” one participant said.
The Israeli government says recognition of Palestinian statehood last year by France and 10 other nations was akin to a gift to Hamas for the October 2023 attacks.
Israeli leaders have criticised French diplomatic initiatives to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Fresh views
Young generations of Israelis and Palestinians must be educated in analysing a two-state solution with fresh eyes, said John Lyndon, executive director at the Alliance for Middle East Peace (Allmep).
“The biggest barrier towards the bottom-up peace is Israelis and Palestinians who don't understand the lived reality that the other has,” Mr Lyndon told The National.
Polling conducted in April by Allmep found Israeli respondents had become slightly more open to the idea of a two-state solution than the previous year.
“We have around half of Israelis who believe that regional normalisation plus a Palestinian state is either essential or desirable, and I would note that 50 per cent is bigger than the vote share for any party in the Knesset,” Mr Lyndon said, referring to the Israeli parliament. “Yet there's not a single party in Israeli politics that is campaigning as this being their top priority.”
Elections in Israel are scheduled for later this year.
