A Tale of two conferences last week : Geneva’s Silence vs. Tel Aviv’s Applause: Why the Old Peace Process Industry Is Failing Israelis and Palestinians
After years of war, trauma, fear, terrorism, extremism, and political collapse, the psychological walls between our societies have become higher than the physical ones. Israelis no longer trust declarations written in English for international audiences. Palestinians no longer trust closed diplomatic processes that produce headlines abroad while changing nothing on the ground.
This is why the era of secret “peace industry” conferences must end. To be clear, the people participating in these closed meetings are often decent and sincere individuals. I know many of them personally. They genuinely want to prevent more bloodshed. The problem lies not in their intentions but in the outdated assumptions behind the process itself.
For too long, parts of the international community – particularly some European governments and institutions – have treated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a technical diplomatic file that can be managed quietly through elite conversations isolated from the public. One Gulf country participating in these efforts also seems to believe that secrecy itself creates trust.
The future will not be shaped only by negotiators sitting in European hotels. It will be shaped by whether ordinary Israelis and Palestinians can once again imagine each other as human beings rather than permanent enemies.
That is what I witnessed in Tel Aviv. And that is why the future belongs less to the secret conference rooms of Geneva and more to those willing to take risks in front of real societies.
التاريخ 15-5-2026
