On Thursday 8 November 2018, an independent delegation of former Knesset members and other prominent Israeli/Palestinian figures initiated a public discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hosted and facilitated by the Clingendael Institute, the delegation, headed by Mr. Talab Sana (of the Arab Democratic Party in Israel), spoke about two critical aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

• What is the state of the two-state solution 25 years after signing the first Oslo agreement?
• What does the recent adoption of the Israeli ‘nationality law’ mean for the type of democracy Israel intends to be and how could this law impact on the conflict?

With a view to recent events like the relocation of the American embassy to Jerusalem, Palestinian submissions to the International Criminal Court and relentless settlement expansion, the event offered a timely opportunity to discuss what the EU and the Netherlands can do to advance the cause of peace in one of the world’s longest conflicts.

Erwin van Veen (Senior Research Fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit) moderated the discussion. Additional contributions were made by:

• Ms. Samar Batrawi (Research Associate at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit) on the development of ‘facts on the ground’ since the Oslo agreements.
• Dr. Peter Malcontent (University of Utrecht) on views and positions across the Dutch political party spectrum on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is the author of ‘Een open zenuw: Nederland, Israel en Palestina´ [An open sinew: The Netherlands, Israel and Palestine].

The event started with Ms. Batrawi providing opening reflections on the current realities of the conflict and continued with contributions from a number of delegation members. Next, Dr. Malcontent provided a Dutch political prism to the discussion. A Q&A session concluded the event.