The Paris Peace Conference kept at it, despite the unbearable reality around us

Or maybe because of it.

The Paris Peace Conference is over. It was a huge success in so many ways -- hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis working together on real, detailed plans and recommendations for ending the war and bring long-term peace, working with world leaders, the UN, diplomats, and experts in important fields like conflict resolution and reconciliation. This was the largest gathering of Palestinians and Israelis since October 7. And we had to go all the way to Paris to do it. Because a gathering like this is impossible close to home -- our government has made it nearly impossible for us to gather. So do other forces. A delegation of 40 Gazans was prevented from attending by bureaucratic forces in Egypt. We didn't get the details, but their absence almost derailed the whole thing. The group from the West Bank had an insanely difficult time getting here. These things are frustrating, infuriating, and shaming....

Nevertheless she persisted...

Waiting to go the the palace to meet President Macron. In 35 deg C heat!

Despite these obstacles, people came. Eagerly. Hopefully. There was a vibrant atmosphere of belief and optimism, despite the appalling reality surrounding us. We, like everyone else, woke up on Friday to a new layer of insanity in this violence. Just when we thought it couldn't get worse. Every single person in the room was suddenly dealing with the very personal impacts of these events, whether children they left behind that they don't know when they will see again, or the angst of relatives in bomb shelters, their neighborhoods being bombed, their families in the West Bank unable to move, or thoughts about the Gazans still under attack. All of us glued to the news and images, wondering how this all connects. In one session, for example, we were reminded that 60 Gazans had been killed that morning while we were sitting there. It's an almost surreal thing we were doing, insisting on continuing that path towards peace while all signs around us are leading us elsewhere.

But maybe that's exactly the point. Here from the depths of the darkness, we came together calling for the same thing -- for an end to all this. In one session, the woman on my left was a survivor of Oct 7 whose family was attacked and who lost her home and her community and is still wandering, and on my right was a man whose entire family is in Gaza, who has also lost family members and a home. Both of them shared the same belief system, the same vision, the same core understanding that there is a different way and it starts with understanding that we are all human.

All of us are driven by the same things. By complete dedication to ending the violence. By a complete commitment to the humanity of all of use. By a willingness to hold our own people accountable while also seeking systemic change and real justice for those who need and deserve it. And by an unwavering insistence that if we willing to hang on to that place of compassion first, peace is possible.

It was so powerful. That was the deep, core fire of this conference, the engine of it all -- our shared humanity. That is the pshat. Everything else is interpretation.

And so, now I'm in the Paris airport waiting to board a flight to Greece, where I will continue to stay until I am able to make my way home. Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians are all figuring this out, too, needing to get home to their loved ones while praying for this all to end. I admit this is the first time I have been far from my family during one of these eruptions, and there is something particularly hard about that, about watching your loved ones under rocket fire while there is a chasm between you and no way to reach each other. Now I understand those of you who call me every time there is an eruption. I get that angst, and I am even more appreciative now than I was before....

That's it for now. There is more to say about this conference, but it's just a lot to process all at once.

With prayers for peace.

President Macron believes in peace, and believes in women….

***
Special shout-out to ALLMEP for an amazing job making this happen, to Forum 1325 for ensuring a fair representation of women, and to all the Palestinians who risked so much to attend -- and those who tried but could not...

More updates and photos here, here, and here.

####