In the first week of May, many Israeli friends participated in two very different conferences. Both claimed to seek the same goal: rebuilding trust between Palestinians and Israelis and preserving the possibility of a political future after one of the darkest periods in our shared history. Yet the gap between them revealed something much deeper about the crisis we are facing – and about why so many well-intentioned international efforts continue to fail.
The first conference took place publicly in Tel Aviv before more than 1,200 participants. It included prominent Israeli political figures such as Yair Golan, Gilad Kariv, and Naama Lazimi. For the first time in years – and during an Israeli election year – public and repeated calls for reviving a political process based on the two-state solution were voiced openly from the stage.
The second conference was held days later in Geneva under strict “Chatham House Rules.” No names. No photographs. No public statements. No media coverage. No public accountability. Participants included Palestinians, Israelis, Europeans, and regional representatives gathered in total secrecy under the assumption that only hidden dialogue creates a “safe environment” for peace discussions.
Public peace conversations
Ironically, the open conference achieved far more than the secret one. As a Palestinian speaker in Tel Aviv, I experienced something that many international diplomats, NGOs, and professional peace-process managers have failed to understand: Israeli society today is desperate to hear authentic Palestinian voices willing to engage directly, publicly, and courageously with Israelis.
After years of war, trauma, fear, terrorism, extremism, and political collapse, the psychological walls between our societies have become higher than the physical ones. Israelis no longer trust declarations written in English for international audiences. Palestinians no longer trust closed diplomatic processes that produce headlines abroad while changing nothing on the ground.
The standing ovation at the end of my speech – from more than 1,200 Israelis – was not a personal compliment. It was a cry for human connection after years of complete disconnection.
The Israeli public is searching for signs that there are Palestinians willing to confront difficult questions openly: security, coexistence, mutual recognition, and the future of this land. And many Palestinians, despite their anger and despair, are also searching for Israelis willing to speak honestly about Palestinian dignity, freedom, and statehood.
This is why the era of secret “peace industry” conferences must end. To be clear, the people participating in these closed meetings are often decent and sincere individuals. I know many of them personally. They genuinely want to prevent more bloodshed. The problem lies not in their intentions but in the outdated assumptions behind the process itself.
For too long, parts of the international community – particularly some European governments and institutions – have treated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a technical diplomatic file that can be managed quietly through elite conversations isolated from the public. One Gulf country participating in these efforts also seems to believe that secrecy itself creates trust.
But the crisis today is no longer primarily diplomatic. It is psychological and societal. October 7 did not only destroy lives. It destroyed whatever remained of emotional trust between the two peoples. Israelis saw the deepest fears of Jewish history revived before their eyes. Palestinians experienced catastrophic destruction, humiliation, displacement, and hopelessness. Entire generations on both sides are now growing up with deeper trauma and deeper hatred.
The need for public voices
In such an environment, secret conferences become almost irrelevant. Sometimes they even reinforce public cynicism. Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians increasingly view them as disconnected elite exercises disconnected from reality.
What both societies need now is not secrecy but public courage. We need Palestinians capable of speaking directly to Israelis in Hebrew, in Arabic, and in English – not to flatter them, but to challenge fear and create space for political imagination again. We need Israelis willing to publicly acknowledge Palestinian national rights and dignity even when it is politically difficult.
The future will not be shaped only by negotiators sitting in European hotels. It will be shaped by whether ordinary Israelis and Palestinians can once again imagine each other as human beings rather than permanent enemies.
That process requires visible leadership. Public engagement. Emotional honesty. Political courage. Real peace cannot emerge from hidden rooms disconnected from society. It must be built in public view, through difficult conversations capable of slowly repairing the psychological destruction that decades of violence, incitement, and mutual dehumanization have created.
The conflict today is increasingly not only between Israelis and Palestinians but between moderates and extremists on both sides. Moderates will not win through silence. They will only win when they are willing to stand publicly before their own people, speak uncomfortable truths, and break the psychological barriers that extremists have spent decades building.
That is what I witnessed in Tel Aviv. And that is why the future belongs less to the secret conference rooms of Geneva and more to those willing to take risks in front of real societies.
The writer is a Fatah political leader from Jerusalem. Today, together with several like-minded Palestinians, he represents a new Palestinian political language: reform, accountability, and partnership.