Why a shared society organisation belongs at the peace table

At first glance, our participation in the recent Paris conference that brought together Israeli and Palestinian civil society leaders to present recommendations to the G7 may have seemed unexpected.

The Abraham Initiatives is not a defined as a peace making organisation. We do not work in Ramallah or Gaza. We do not monitor settlement expansion or settlers violence.  We are a shared society organisation. For nearly four decades, our work has focused on narrowing disparities, improving relations between the two national groups, strengthening local government, advancing shared education, reducing violence, and creating the conditions for a more inclusive society within Israel-Propper.

So why was it important for us to be there?

Because the “inside” and the “outside” are inseparable.

Any of those committed to a shared future between Jews and Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, must also recognise that the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot remain unresolved. The establishment of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside the State of Israel, realising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination while guaranteeing Israel’s security and legitimacy, is not separate from our mission. It is essential to it.

Until there is a political solution, the tension between the two national groups within Israel will continue to simmer beneath the surface, threatening to erupt with every round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians or in the region as a whole. We witnessed this most painfully in May 2021. We have experienced it again since 7 October.

For Palestinian citizens of Israel, integration into Israeli society has never meant assimilation. It means full and equal citizenship while maintaining a distinct collective identity. But for many Arab citizens, genuine belonging remains difficult to imagine while the conflict endures. They are asked to invest in a shared future while the broader reality signals that separation, suspicion and inequality remain entrenched.

Palestinian citizens of Israel are, in many ways, the group that suffers most acutely from this unresolved reality. They live at the intersection of these identities and loyalties. Yet they also stand to gain the most from a just and lasting resolution. Their lived experience demonstrates both the costs of conflict and the possibilities of partnership.

None of this means that we should wait for peace before acting.

On the contrary.

There is much that can and must be done now. We can build shared schools and mixed professional networks. We can strengthen Arab local authorities and improve policing. We can combat racism, reduce inequality and create opportunities for meaningful encounters between Jewish and Arab citizens. These efforts are not peripheral; they are essential investments in resilience and democracy.

But neither should we pretend that these initiatives alone can insulate Israeli society from the consequences of an unresolved national conflict.

That is why support for two states has long been embedded within The Abraham Initiatives’ vision. Not because we work beyond Israel’s recognised borders, but because our work inside Israel has taught us that the future of Jewish-Arab relations within the state is deeply connected to what happens beyond them.

One of the striking features of the Paris gathering was how few organisations working specifically on shared society were represented. Yet these efforts need one another.

Political agreements without social trust are fragile. Shared society initiatives without a political arrangements  are limited in what they can achieve. Peacebuilding cannot be outsourced to diplomats only, nor can coexistence be reduced to local projects disconnected from larger realities.

As the international community searches for ways to revive a political process that many have given up on, civil society has an important role to play. Those of us working within Israeli society know both how deep the divisions have become and how necessary it is to continue imagining another future.

That is why The Abraham Initiatives was in Paris. And that is why we will continue showing up.

Amnon Be’eri-Sulitzeanu is Co-CEO of the Abraham Initiatives