Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians gathered in Tel Aviv on Thursday for the third annual People's Peace Summit, as Secretary of State John Kerry worked to restart stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority using a peace initiative first proposed 24 years ago. The grassroots mobilization, organized by a coalition of over 80 Israeli co-existence and human rights organizations, brought together old peace activists, women in hijabs, bilingual schoolchildren, and men in tzitzit in a powerful display of public demand for renewed diplomacy.
Kerry's Diplomatic Push
Kerry arrived in Israel on Tuesday afternoon, a day before President Barack Obama landed, with his staff declining to reveal his schedule to the media. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Kerry would "have a meeting or two, in preparation for the president's arrival" and that the "schedule was being worked out." According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Kerry intended to put the Arab League peace initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002, back on the table for Israel and the PA. Under that plan, Arab nations would recognize and make peace with Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 armistice lines, an agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, and acceptance of the formation of an independent Palestinian state.
Then a crown prince, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, when he first proposed the initiative, acknowledged that it was to only serve as a basis, not a dictate, and all of its points were open to negotiation. Kerry had also warned the Palestinian leadership in the past that it would have to make concessions on some of the clauses laid down by the peace plan.
Obstacles to Renewed Talks
Israelis and Palestinians had not held direct talks since the fall of 2010, when the talks broke down after Israel refused to agree to the Palestinian Authority's demands that it extend a settlement construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a pre-condition for talks. Last November, the PA gained nonmember observer state status at the UN, despite objections by the US and Israel. Since the UN vote, Israel announced a series of construction plans for areas of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, including in the controversial E1 corridor, located between Maaleh Adumin in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Palestinians demanded that Israel halt settlement construction as a pre-condition for returning to the negotiating table. Israel, for its part, maintained that there shouldn't be pre-conditions for peace talks since all final status issues — security, Jerusalem, refugees, and borders — would be agreed upon during the course of negotiations.
Palestinian Demands and Israeli Gestures
A source close to Abbas told Israel Radio Tuesday morning that the Palestinian president would ask Obama to pressure Israel into making gestures of goodwill to the PA. Among the requested gestures would be the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the transfer of additional land to PA control and the handing over of armored vehicles donated to the PA by Russia.
Netanyahu reportedly was already considering offering a package of goodwill gestures to coincide with the presidential visit. A Maariv report earlier this month said that Israel's defense establishment had drawn up a package that included the transfer of authority over two access roads — one to the new Palestinian city Rawabi, and the other to the West Bank city of Tulkarem — to full Palestinian control, the approval of building plans for 10 Palestinian villages currently deemed illegal and under threat of being demolished, the release of many of the 123 Fatah prisoners arrested by Israel before the Oslo peace talks and the transfer of small arms ammunition to Palestinian security forces.
Palestinian Skepticism
However, Palestinian officials expressed little, if any confidence in the immediate future of revived peace talks. Nabil Shaath, a PA official and former member of the Palestinian negotiation team, noted in an interview to Palestinian newspaper al-Ayyam that the new Israeli government, sworn in on Monday, contained more settlers and fewer religious legislators than previous administrations. The settlers, he said, were more extremist and more dangerous than the religious MKs.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday night that there was no need for Obama to bring a new initiative to the region, nor was it necessary to arrange a summit meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas. "The only thing needed is to set a clear timetable for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders," Erekat told al-Arabiya. Erekat was quoted on Wednesday by Israel Radio saying that the new Israeli government, sworn in on Monday, was formed in order to destroy the principle of a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
Kerry would accompany Obama on his visit from Wednesday and depart with him to Jordan on Friday, but would return to Israel on Saturday night for an additional meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kerry and Obama were scheduled to meet with Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday morning. Maariv reported on Wednesday that Kerry would try to arrange a three-way meeting between Obama, Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Grassroots Peace Movement Persists
Israeli and Palestinian speakers at the Tel Aviv peace summit urged a revival of a peace movement many fear has been pushed to the margins by endless wars. Aaron David Miller, an adviser on Mideast peace to six secretaries of state who is now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, said, "This is not about accomplishing anything now. This is what I call a down payment trip."
Why This Matters:
The convergence of high-level diplomatic efforts and grassroots mobilization highlights the persistent demand for a negotiated resolution to a conflict that has displaced millions and denied Palestinians self-determination for generations. The fact that direct talks have been stalled for 15 years, while settlement construction continues despite international objection, underscores the structural barriers to peace that require sustained international pressure and institutional accountability. The release of long-held prisoners, transfer of land to Palestinian control, and approval of building plans for threatened villages represent tangible steps toward addressing immediate humanitarian needs and building trust. The participation of over 80 civil society organizations in the Tel Aviv summit demonstrates that public support for coexistence persists despite political obstacles, suggesting that democratic pressure from below could complement diplomatic efforts from above to advance human rights and equality for all people in the region.