Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups meet in France to advocate for two-state solution
Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives gathered in Paris on June 12 to press G7 leaders to preserve the viability of a two-state solution ahead of their summit in Évian-les-Bains. The conference, attended by around 150 activists and foreign ministers including EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, produced an eight-point 'Call for Action' covering a permanent ceasefire, settlement halt, Gaza reconstruction, and Palestinian elections. The meeting underscores growing international alarm that the window for a negotiated solution is narrowing, even as Israel and the United States declined to attend.
The Paris conference, timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the UN-backed New York Declaration on Palestinian statehood, brought together roughly 150 civil society activists from across the Israeli-Palestinian divide alongside Arab and European foreign ministers. Participants produced an eight-point 'Call for Action' to be delivered directly to G7 leaders meeting in the French Alps from June 15, urging a permanent monitored ceasefire, disarmament of Hamas, a halt to Israeli settlement expansion, guaranteed humanitarian access, and transparent multi-year Gaza reconstruction with Palestinian civil society involvement. The gathering also called for Palestinian elections in 2025 and warned that a financially starved Palestinian Authority risks deepening Hamas entrenchment in Gaza. Avi Meyerstein of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a coalition of over 200 NGOs, argued that polling shows significant Israeli public openness to a regional agreement including Palestinian statehood, but that this constituency is poorly represented by current political parties. The conference came days after Britain, Canada, France, and Norway announced coordinated sanctions against Israeli networks linked to settler violence in the West Bank, and as concern mounts over Israel's E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, which critics say would bisect the West Bank and sever it from East Jerusalem. Israel rejected the conference as irrelevant to peace, and the chance of a unified G7 statement on Gaza was described as vanishingly small.
How coverage differed
The Guardian provided the most detailed account of the conference's proposals and civil society voices, framing the event as a constructive grassroots effort, while The Jerusalem Post—publishing the same Reuters wire as The Straits Times—gave particular prominence to the Israeli embassy's dismissal of the conference and the Palestinian rejection of past statehood proposals, lending more weight to the Israeli government's perspective.
What different sources said
- France 24Center
'Acknowledging rights and needs of Israelis and Palestinians: Shared path towards a secure future'
- The Straits TimesCenter
Israeli, Palestinian civil society meet in France as two-state solution dims
- The Jerusalem PostRight
Israeli, Palestinian civil society meet in France as two-state solution dims
Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups urge G7 to take action on Gaza
- ReutersCenter
Israeli, Palestinian civil society groups meet in France as two-state hopes dim
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