At this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC), one of the world’s most influential global security gatherings, Israeli-Palestinian civil society achieved a rare breakthrough, bringing the perspectives of Palestinian and Israeli people into the halls of power where their future is on the table. ALLMEP, together with our members EcoPeace and A Land for All, spoke with a clear, united voice: no political agreement can endure without the inclusion of civil society — the people working daily on building community, creating a political horizon, and fostering peace to achieve security for Israelis and Palestinians alike. 

On Friday 13 February, ALLMEP and the Paris Peace Forum co-hosted a discussion on “the Missing Piece: Civil Society and the Future of Palestinian‑Israeli Diplomacy”. The room was packed with foreign ministers, senior diplomats, and peacebuilders, eager to hear directly from those forging future solutions for peace and securing the conditions on the ground for them to succeed. 

Opening the conversation, Ambassador Helga Maria Schmid, Vice President of the MSC Foundation and chair of the Middle East Consultation Group (MECG), echoed the Group’s paper, “Building on Momentum: From Promise to Progress?,” released that same day. The publication singles out civil society initiatives as the fundamental infrastructure that creates “fertile ground for agreements to take root,” referencing ALLMEP as a prime example that “brings together 200 Israeli and Palestinian organizations to advance cooperation, trust, and equality.” The paper specifically highlighted ALLMEP member A Land for All’s “Two States, One Homeland” as an ideal model of what mutual security, interlocking rights, and shared future could look like.

These perspectives were front and centre during Friday’s exchange. 

At the panel, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot placed civil society at the heart of any credible path forward In conversation with Justin Vaisse, Director General of the Paris Peace Forum. Barrot— built on the work begun in Paris last June, when he received the Paris Call for the Two-State Solution from Palestinian and Israeli peacebuilders convened by ALLMEP and the Paris Peace Forum.

Barrot underlined governments’ responsibility to deliver concrete, large-scale support to civil society and noted France’s G7 presidency this year to build on its engagement with civil society and push for continued involvement in peace and security discussions — with particular emphasis on youth and women, who are typically excluded from these conversations. His hope is “to go beyond G7 statements and to lay the ground for convergence institutions, in order for this [vision] to become more tangible and more useful.” 

The panel that followed brought that vision to life, rooting it in the expertise of peacebuilders leading this work on the ground. ALLMEP Regional Director Nivine Sandouka joined EcoPeace Middle East Co‑Director Gidon Bromberg to discuss how to connect international diplomatic momentum with local realities and priorities. 

Nivine Sandouka spoke to the reality of peacebuilding during active conflict, describing both the surge in violence and extremism, and the extraordinary work of Palestinians and Israelis who nevertheless “believe in a different future” and continue to collaborate both in the West Bank and Gaza — on protective presence, delivering humanitarian goods, psychosocial support, and trauma healing.

Gidon Bromberg echoed this. Emphasising the nexus between peace, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability, he reminded that the ideas exist — but lack of funding prevents their realisation. “We can only engage with communities when we have the resources, and hence the critical importance of the meeting that will take place in London,” he said, referring to UK Foreign Secretary hosting a peacebuilding conference on 12 March 2026 at Lancaster House, aimed at establishing an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, an initiative ALLMEP conceived and has campaigned for since 2009. 

Bromberg also called for G7 action to follow the London meeting: “There is an opportunity for G7 states to launch the Fund and put money in — recognising the role of civil society in diplomacy and  empowering it to fulfill it.” 

The discussion in Munich was anchored in data. ALLMEP’s AI Pulse findings show that, despite the trauma and polarisation of recent years, a majority of Israelis and Palestinians still favour a negotiated two-state solution within a regional framework. The MECG paper echoes this: publics are ahead of politics, and diplomatic architecture must be built to reflect and reinforce that public will. 

This is the logic that has driven ALLMEP’s advocacy for the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace — and Munich marked another important milestone on that path. The MECG paper welcomed the UK government’s peacebuilding conference on 12 March as a positive step in consolidating civil society engagement within the broader political process. As Bromberg made clear during the panel, the Fund is not just a financing mechanism — it is the infrastructure that will allow civil society to fulfill its role as the connective tissue between diplomatic ambition and lived change.

From the G7 leaders communiqué in 2024 to the Paris Call, the New York Declaration, to MSC 2026, and on to Lancaster House, a clear arc is emerging. ALLMEP will continue to ensure that the missing piece is no longer missing — and that the peacebuilders already charting the path to a shared future have the resources, recognition, and political backing to bring it within reach.