Jerusalem People’s Peace Summit “It’s Time” Brings Together 5,000 Participants in Call to End War, Embrace Peacebuilding
On May 9th, ‘It’s Time’, an unprecedented coalition of over 60 civil society and peacebuilding organizations, including dozens of ALLMEP members, gathered in Jerusalem for the second annual People’s Peace Summit. The event brought together over 5,000 participants from the region’s Peacebuilding community, from diplomats and creatives to bereaved families and Israeli soldiers refusing military service amidst the ongoing war. Everyone in attendance was there to stand united in a collective call to “End the war – it’s time for a political solution.”
Over two days, the summit featured panel discussions, cultural events, and addresses aimed at fostering a common framework to stop the war in Gaza, end the occupation, and secure a peaceful and just future for both Palestinians and Israelis. The conference brought together local civil society members and high-level government officials alike, with addresses from Israeli members of Knesset and global leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
This year’s summit placed a particular emphasis on civil society, highlighting the vital, grassroots work being achieved at the heart of Israeli and Palestinian communities. Civil society leaders spoke to a packed auditorium, which included over 100 diplomats and politicians from around the world, including 36 ambassadors and 73 local diplomats.
Highlights of the summit included the addresses by French President Emmanuel Macron and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas. Macron paid tribute to the essential role of civil society in facilitating dialogue, fostering empathy, and laying the foundations of peace: “What you are building here is concrete, rooted, a peace not born in official treaties alone, but in hearts, in actions, and in everyday commitments.” Kallas followed with a major announcement, pledging an unprecedented €18 million in new EU funding for Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations— a significant boost that underscores the EU’s deepening investment in grassroots peacebuilding.
To strengthen the connection between civil society and policy makers, ALLMEP hosted an invitation-only panel discussion and luncheon to highlight the avenues the Peacebuilding Community is pursuing towards a diplomatic solution. The panel, moderated by Kari Reid, ALLMEP U.S. Director, featured German Ambassador Steffen Seibert, Dutch Ambassador Marriet Schuurman, French Ambassador Frédéric Journès, and EU Representative Alexandre Stutzmann. The discussion at the panel centered around the role that the international community, particularly European diplomatic institutions, can play in promoting peace in Israel and Palestine through the critical role of civil society as well as protecting it from national legislation that would seriously harm the work of those organizations, like the proposed NGO taxation law currently being discussed in the Knesset.
The summit delivered a clear and urgent message: peace is not only a moral imperative, but an existential one—and it requires action. Amid warnings that the very idea of peace has become taboo for many Israelis and Palestinians, speakers called for renewed public mobilization, international pressure, and grassroots leadership. Israeli activist Maoz Inon reminded the audience of the power of ordinary people to shape history through nonviolent movements: “We, who are not politicians, have an equally great ability to influence reality. Studies show that if 3.5% of the population actively participated in a nonviolent movement, it would never fail. We don’t need to convince everyone, but rather motivate those who are already convinced to take action.” Head of the Democratic party, Yair Golan, alongside Knesset members, among them MK Na’ama Lazimi and Aymen Odeh, urged a joint Israeli-Palestinian challenge to extremism and the formation of a government rooted in liberal democratic values. International actors were called upon to do their part—including by sanctioning illegal settlements—to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.
The conference emphasized the voices of those whose physical presence was precluded by the devastating reality of the ongoing war. In a moving video message, Dr. Iman, a doctor from Gaza, shared her daily reality and dreams of peace that played for all in attendance. “We want peace. We are all for peace,” she said in the video. “I believe that if all supporters of peace, the reasonable people among Arabs and Israelis, unite and demand peace for the two peoples. A just and comprehensive peace — a real peace — certainly the dream will become reality,” she shared.
Yael Adami, founder and leader of Women Wage Peace, gave a stirring tribute to several of her former colleagues who were killed in the events of the war: “I’m standing here. Also called Vivian Silver. Also named Nadia from Gaza. Also named Susan Matira, a dedicated peace activist. Women who led change, women who paid with their lives the price of this cruel war, the price of the leadership’s neglect and contempt for human beings.”
Perhaps the most poignant aspects of the event was the youth of many of those in attendance, young Palestinians and Israelis who want to be the last generation to suffer in this conflict. Their vision of a future governed not by violence and bloodshed, but rather by dialogue and democracy, brought a renewed hope to the event.
The People’s Peace Summit 2025 delivered a resounding message to the world: peace cannot wait. There are thousands of people who, even at one of the darkest moments in the history of this conflict, are organizing, growing and joining together to tell their communities, their political leaders, and the international community, with a united message: “It’s Time”.
