150+ organizations call on President Biden and HR/VP Borrell to prioritise peacebuilding between Palestinians and Israelis at the G7 Summit
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BRUSSELS— After weeks of devastating fighting that led to the deaths of hundreds, including children, a nonpartisan, multinational coalition of organizations are calling on the international community to prioritize immediate funding for peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine.
The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), the largest and fastest-growing network of peacebuilding NGOs in Israel and Palestine, is calling on the E.U. and U.S. Biden governments to set in motion an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the G7 Summit next week. Based on the International Fund for Ireland, which lead U.K. negotiator Jonathan Powell called the “great unsung hero” of the Good Friday Agreement, the fund is designed to break down trust barriers between Israelis and Palestinians through civic engagement and people-to-people programs that would make sustainable peace possible.
The summit’s hosts, the U.K., have already officially endorsed the International Fund concept, and just last week 65 Parliamentarians wrote to Foreign Secretary Raab urging him to use the G7 to bring it into being. U.S. funding for such an endeavour could come through the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA), legislation passed last December thanks to an ALLMEP-led campaign that provides
$250 million over five years to expand peace and reconciliation programs in the region, as well as to support projects aimed at bolstering the Palestinian economy. As HR/VP Borrell stated On May 18th, after a special Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting on Israel/Palestine, “we have to engage to reopen a political horizon: exploring space for re-engagement between the parties; developing confidence building measures; improving living conditions of the people and opening the path towards the potential of launching of the peace process”. The concept is generating increased support from those who understand the depth of the problem the Fund is designed to disrupt, such as former UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov, who tweeted: “The collapse of people-to-people contacts between Israelis and Palestinians feeds violence and hatred. The international community should support civil society efforts, and the G7 meeting is a great opportunity to do so.” His successor, Tor Wennesland, welcomed the news of U.S.
funding at a March meeting of the UN Security Council and urged other member states to contribute toward this work.
“The International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace is a critical tool in not only deescalating tensions right now, but building lasting peace,” said John Lyndon, executive director of ALLMEP. “In the immediate aftermath of the latest round of violence, it is critical that the E.U., the Biden administration, and the entire international community prioritize funding priorities that look not just at reconstruction, which— as important as it is—just puts things back to how they were before this round of violence. Instead, we need a forward-looking strategy that is rooted in Israeli/Palestinian partnership. At the G7, the world’s leading powers have an opportunity to found something transformative out of the ashes of this war, which can disrupt hate and dehumanization and lay foundations instead for Israeli/Palestinian and Arab/Jewish partnership at a scale that can deliver peace and equality for all.”
The G7 brings together global decision makers from leading economies to shape responses to pressing global challenges. With tensions at an all-time high, Palestinians and Israelis cannot wait for action. ALLMEP members are calling these nations to use the summit to commit to creating an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and radically scale the sort of work that has proven to be effective in building an environment conducive to peace over the long term.
To learn more about ALLMEP and its latest push to fund peacebuilding, please contact Jessica Sarstedt at jsarstedt@westendstrategy.com or +1.202.802.1835.