A third-party-only effort: the international conference approach
In January 2017, France convened an international conference in Paris ‘intended to preserve the two-state solution and create incentives that would move the parties closer to direct negotiations’.23 While the conference usefully reiterated some of the basic principles of Israeli–Palestinian peacemaking and got the 70 states represented there to endorse these in public, it never stood a chance of generating momentum. After it became clear that the Israelis would not attend, neither they nor the Palestinians were invited to participate; the two sides were invited only to hear the conclusions.
Two lessons emerge from the Paris conference. First, the international community cannot lead the process of achieving a two-state solution if it is unable to secure the participation of the parties. Second, and more positively, at certain stages of the process, it may be useful for the international community to reaffirm its consensus view of the framework within which negotiations should take place.