People’s Assembly Goethe-Institut, London January 8-10, 2025

Under the auspices of the Minds of Peace Organisation, a group of concerned Palestinians & Israelis, joined by members of the London All Faiths Network & other international observers, have been meeting at the Goethe-Institut in London for the last few days to discuss a possible peace agreement to end the long-lasting conflict between their nations, starting the process with ordinary citizens of both countries.

All those present recognised that the journey to improve the relations between Palestinians & Israelis will be long & difficult, with many obstacles to overcome, not least the fears on both sides that those on the other side will not be willing to accept the compromises needed for an agreement.

The discussions have been difficult, sometimes heated, as we tried to put together the words that are acceptable to all to summarise our discussions but present in all was the desire to end the conflict that has blighted both nations for far too long.

While the document we concluded is important as a building block towards an agreement between Palestine & Israel, more important was the feeling we all had that our willingness to meet and talk with those who many would see as the enemy has contributed to the deeper understanding between the two people: to recognise the fears of the other, to understand the need for reconciliation between both sides for the wrongs they have done to each other, and to build mutual trust between each other to make any agreement work.

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Solomon IRO.

Declaration

General Principles:

• Peace is of mutual interest to Palestinians and Israelis.
• Palestinians and Israelis are entitled to live as a free people in their own homeland.
• The solution to the conflict is the establishment of two independent sovereign states, based on mutual cooperation, with borders based on June 4th 1967 lines.
• Both sides will recognize immediately the right of the other side to an independent state.
• A 3rd party monitoring and verification mechanism is recommended to make sure that these arrangements will be respected and implemented. It will operate until a mutual trust is built and both sides agree to end the mechanism.

Security references:

1. The war in Gaza
   • All hostages must be released immediately, together with an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners.
   • During a period of 3 years, Gaza will be governed by an empowered civil technocrat Palestinian council. The council head will be appointed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) President and then the head of the council will appoint the councils’ members.
   • The council will invite a temporary Arab-led international security force to assist the Palestinian security and help stabilize the situation in the Gaza Strip.
   • Israeli military forces will fully withdraw from the Gaza strip in parallel to the deployment of the international forces within an agreed timeframe.
   • The leaderships of the two sides undertake to prevent all acts of aggression.
2. Trust Building
   • Both sides should resort to mutual and parallel strategies of trust building through combating incitement and hatred, especially in education and media, replacing them with values of tolerance and reconciliation.

Political Framework toward Peace and Stability:

• The borders between the two states will be based on the June 4th 1967 lines with modifications and territorial swaps agreed between both parties.
• Jerusalem will be the undivided capital city of both two states.
• The Israeli neighbourhoods will be the Israeli capital.
• Palestinian neighbourhoods will the Palestine capital.
• The Old City will be under a special regime with no exclusive sovereignty of either side.
• The reconstruction of Gaza will be managed by the council with international assistance. The blockade will be removed allowing free movement of goods and people, and free access to the world via sea port and airport.

The refugee issue will be solved within an agreed and just solution based on the following modalities:

• The right of return to the state of Palestine;
• An agreed number will be allowed to live in Israel;
• A compensation mechanism.

The two sides will start Cooperation on the following issues:

• Security,
• Movement of People,
• Health,
• Economic ties,
• Environment, energy, water, and
• Trust building mechanisms.

Both sides will commit to start a process of reconciliation, acknowledging that healing and mutual understanding are critical for sustainable peace.

The implementation of this agreement ends the conflict and all claims between the two sides.

Signatories: Palestinians Delegates Observers Israeli Delegates