Paris Conference Renews Push for Two-State Solution as Civil Society Drives Middle East Peace Momentum

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PARIS — June 12, 2026 —

Palestinian and Israeli civil society leaders gathered in Paris on Friday for a landmark conference aimed at renewing international commitment to a two-state solution, marking one year since the original Paris Call for a Two-State Solution drew more than 300 Israeli and Palestinian representatives to the same cause.

The conference, held at the Institut du Monde Arabe under the invitation of French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, convened peace activists, working groups, and senior diplomats for a day of closed-door sessions culminating in the drafting of a new Paris Call — a renewed appeal to world leaders that builds on the momentum of the landmark 2025 initiative.

A Year of Diplomatic Momentum

The June 2025 Paris Call, drafted jointly by Israeli, Palestinian, and international peace advocates, was presented to the French government one year ago at the Conseil Économique, Social et Environnemental (CESE). Its core demands — the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine, a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages held in Gaza, and full humanitarian access to Palestinian territories — resonated across diplomatic capitals and directly shaped the subsequent efforts of Saudi Arabia and France.

France formally recognized Palestine as a state at the United Nations on September 22, 2025, a move that several European governments had privately signaled they were preparing to follow. European diplomats described the recognition as a direct consequence of the diplomatic pressure generated by the Paris Call and its unprecedented gathering of grassroots peace actors alongside senior government officials.

Five Working Groups, Concrete Recommendations

Friday’s conference opened with five parallel working groups tasked with translating civil society consensus into actionable policy recommendations. The working group on “Security for Israelis and Palestinians” was chaired by Justin Vaïsse, founder and Executive Director of the Paris Peace Forum. Four additional groups addressed “Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction in Gaza,” “Implementing the Two-State Solution and Addressing Threats of Annexation,” “Narratives for Peace, Democracy and Reform,” and “Regional Integration.”

“No lasting peace, nor long-term prosperity, can be built without those who, on the ground, maintain dialogue, propose concrete solutions and work to make peace possible,” the Paris Peace Forum stated in its conference announcement.

Each working group was mandated to produce a set of specific recommendations to be submitted to G7 leaders — gathered in nearby Evian just days after the Paris conference — and to the broader international community. The structured format marked a deliberate shift from the 2025 conference, which had been more focused on declaration than prescription.

High-Level Diplomacy and a Tribute

The afternoon session featured a high-level sequence centered on the presentation of the 2026 Paris Call. Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Anne-Claire Legendre, Director of the Institut du Monde Arabe, delivered opening remarks. The programme also included testimonies from Israeli and Palestinian peacebuilders working on the ground, followed by panel discussions on the working groups’ conclusions.

A tribute was paid to Ofer Bronchtein, the Israeli peace activist and longtime convener of cross-community dialogue, who died on May 18th. Bronchtein had been a central figure in both the 2025 and 2026 conference preparations, and his death lent the proceedings an additional weight that delegates described as palpable.

The new Paris Call was officially presented to Minister Barrot at the close of the conference, with its signatories hoping that the document’s specific policy recommendations — rather than general principles — would give it greater traction with governments that had struggled to translate the 2025 declaration into concrete action.

An Uncertain Diplomatic Window

The conference arrives at a moment of fragile and contested diplomacy across the Middle East. Negotiations over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz have introduced new variables into the region’s security calculus, while a U.S.-Iran nuclear dialogue — reportedly nearing a preliminary agreement — could alter the diplomatic geometry that has long governed the Israeli-Palestinian track. Ceasefire negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah remain stalled in several key areas, and the prospect of a two-state solution has grown increasingly remote in the view of many international observers.

Yet proponents of the civil society approach argue that the very deterioration of official diplomatic channels makes grassroots peacebuilding more essential, not less. The Paris conference, in this reading, is less a substitute for government action than a pressure mechanism designed to expand the political space available to governments that wish to act but fear the costs of doing so in an environment of heightened polarization.

The timing — just days before the G7 summit in Evian — was deliberate. Organisers said they had structured the conference to conclude with policy recommendations that could be delivered directly to G7 leaders before their formal agenda moved to other topics. Whether the world’s most powerful democracies will find the political will to act on those recommendations remains the central unanswered question of this renewed diplomatic effort.