The extremists played the long game. Now, we are, too

It’s no accident that the Middle East seems trapped in an endless loop of violence. Extreme actors worked patiently for decades to spread their ideas, build institutions, shape narratives, and consolidate power. But a major policy shift last week showed that they don’t have a monopoly on long-term, strategic change.

As world leaders headed to France for the G7, foreign ministers and deputies stopped in Paris first to meet with over 150 Israeli and Palestinian civil society leaders and cement a new partnership.

In conjunction with the gathering, named the “The Paris Call for the Two-State Solution,” top diplomats announced the launch of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace by the UK, Australia, and Canada; $100 million more in humanitarian aid from Canada; further European Union investment in peacebuilding; and pledges to work hand-in-glove with civil society to advance peace.

Individually, each of these moves is significant. But together, they signal a sea change: a growing recognition that diplomacy alone cannot resolve the conflict and that peacebuilders on the ground — and by extension, the Israeli and Palestinian peoples — must be full partners in shaping what comes next.

What came together in Paris was far more than the meeting of those in the room.
As five working groups met throughout the day to develop recommendations for the G7, they confronted the conflict’s hardest realities, not least how to urgently help the people of Gaza and turn a fragile ceasefire into a durable political and security framework that protects the rights and security of both peoples. We gathered for breakfast with the French, Canadian and UK Foreign Ministers to present these ideas in full, with civil society leaders then developing them further in conversation with Ministers and senior figures from almost 50 countries, from the G7 and beyond.

Those who gathered in Paris did not claim to speak for every Israeli or Palestinian. Rather, they took in inputs from hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian leaders who participated in an inclusive deliberative process over more than a year. They also came as representatives of constituencies, institutions, and communities engaged every day in helping their societies navigate war, trauma, security, governance, education, humanitarian relief, and economic development.

Many run schools, health clinics, youth movements, think tanks, grassroots initiatives, business incubators, and humanitarian organisations to address key drivers and effects of conflict. Many connect Israelis and Palestinians together through challenging, but powerful, encounters that build trust and partnership. Their daily work is not to negotiate treaties, but to create the ideas, conditions, relationships, attitudes, and public legitimacy without which no possible treaty can survive.

We know this approach can work because it helped transform another conflict many believed would never end. Long before the politicians reached the Good Friday Agreement, the international community built the social infrastructure that peace would require. Beginning more than a decade before the agreement itself, the International Fund for Ireland and the European Union invested $6.5 billion in over 20,000 partnership and peacebuilding projects.

Those initiatives connected divided communities, fostered economic partnerships, created shared institutions, and helped citizens imagine a different future. They developed new and young leaders, knocked on doors, and ran campaigns. When the political agreement was finally signed, negotiators called these efforts the peace process’s “unsung hero.”

The success of this strategy in Northern Ireland inspired us over two decades ago to do the same in the Middle East. When we began building ALLMEP in 2003, several dozen NGOs were having a real impact on individuals and local communities. But the forces driving the conflict were far greater.

The peacebuilding organisations operated on shoestring budgets, often turning participants away. For decades, they were expected to transform realities on the ground while receiving only a fraction of the resources devoted to managing conflict. They were trying to stop a tsunami with a teaspoon. Diplomats occasionally praised their work but also never prioritised it, assuming that the real work happens in the negotiating room.

Changing those assumptions took years. But we’re making steady progress. Last week’s breakthroughs were possible because, despite headwinds and setbacks, ALLMEP has now grown into a network and coordination mechanism of over 200 Israeli and Palestinian NGOs — growing 30% just since 7 October.

Last week’s peacebuilding fund news came 17 years after we launched our campaign to create one. It took thousands of meetings and events, unheard-of coalitions of allies across the political spectrum, and six different bills in Congress. We enlisted Pope Francis, dozens of UK and European parliamentarians, and over 350 NGOs around the world in an appeal to the G7.

Progress rarely came in dramatic breakthroughs. It came incrementally, but over time the gains accumulated. At the ten-year mark, this effort led to passing the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act in Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support and an initial $250 million peacebuilding investment.

In recent years, it also generated backing from both Conservative and Labour prime ministers in the UK; a G7 pledge to support, institutionalise, and integrate civil society peacebuilding with diplomacy; and now a truly international fund announced by Australia, Canada, and the UK.

Make no mistake: this is not just about money. It is a paradigm shift. Governments are beginning to recognise that civil society is not an accessory to diplomacy but part of the infrastructure that makes diplomacy work. As EU High Representative Kaja Kallas put it on stage in Paris, “Civil society is not an afterthought of diplomacy. It is indispensable for building peace.”

On the eve of the G7, Israeli and Palestinian civil society leaders took their rightful seat at the table. World leaders listened to their ideas for moving beyond a frozen process and committed themselves to building the infrastructure that peace will require but has never had.

In these dark days, scepticism comes naturally. Yet the policy changes achieved last week are themselves proof of what patient persistence can accomplish. The extremists spent decades building the infrastructure of division. If we are serious about creating a different future, we must be equally committed to building the infrastructure of peace. One that is fully resourced, and plugged directly into any diplomatic processes that intends to shape the lives and intertwined future that Israelis and Palestinians share.

Last week suggested that, at long last, we are beginning to do exactly that.

Avi Meyerstein is the founder and President of ALLMEP.