At the invitation of the UK presidency, Principles for Peace Founding Executive Director Hiba Qasas briefed the UN Security Council during its open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, with a focus on Gaza and the West Bank.

Speaking on behalf of the Uniting for a Shared Future coalition convened by the Principles for Peace Foundation, which brings together more than 550 Israeli and Palestinian leaders across security, politics, business, civil society, and media, Qasas set out USF’s purpose as a practical binational dialogue infrastructure at scale that enables senior leaders from both peoples to engage and organise pragmatic action for a political solution within a regional framework.

She underscored that Phase Two of the ceasefire will decide whether this is a bridge to stability or a pause before the next war, and that it will only hold if Gaza recovery is inseparable from the West Bank, linked in design, protected by safeguards, and anchored in a clear, time bound political destination.

The session also featured Nadav Tamir, fellow USF coalition member, Executive Director of J Street Israel and former senior Israeli diplomat. Both briefers emphasised that Gaza recovery must be inseparable from West Bank stability, and that progress requires a clear political destination.

One priority is particularly urgent in light of the Israeli cabinet’s decision on 15 February 2026 to resume land registration procedures in the West Bank, a move widely warned to facilitate further land appropriation and Palestinian dispossession. As Qasas underscored before the Council, administrative and cabinet measures that facilitate changes in land control and ownership are dangerous for Palestinians, and also dangerous for Israelis, because they fuel insecurity, radicalisation, and the collapse of any credible political destination. 

Seven Priority Confidence-Building Measures:

The coalition presented seven immediate actions requiring engagement by the Board of Peace and the UN Security Council:

1. Ease movement and access in Gaza and the West Bank. Reverse the ban on humanitarian NGOs, operationalise and modernise Gaza crossings, and ease movement in the West Bank.
2. Restore Palestinian fiscal and banking functionality to prevent Palestinian Authority collapse. Release withheld revenues, restore correspondent banking, and unblock currency circulation.
3. Back Palestinian Authority reform with realistic expectations and verification, and support credible Palestinian elections.
4. Protect territorial feasibility by halting steps that sever contiguity, beginning with freezing E1 and expansion in the southern Jerusalem corridor, and stopping changes to land ownership in the West Bank.
5. Deter violence and incitement on all sides. Apply consequences for terrorism, militia regrouping, and settler violence, with verifiable and accountable security architecture.
6. Enable legitimate transitional governance in Gaza, allowing NCAG members to enter and operate under international political protection, linked with the West Bank.
7. Support an Israeli-Palestinian political dialogue track through USF’s existing infrastructure and the new Political Horizon Working Group, facilitated by Switzerland and launched in Davos.

The ultimate goal: a new regional architecture resolving the conflict through a non-militarised Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, embedded in an integrated regional framework.

The coalition offered the Council three forms of immediate support: dialogue infrastructure when official channels are absent, implementation guidance, and capacity to mobilise public consent and private sector engagement.

Closing her address, Hiba reflected:

“We can either condemn both peoples to a perpetual state of insecurity, loss, trauma, and occupation, or emancipate both peoples from this reality. As solution-minded leaders, we are committed to work with everything we have for the second, because both our peoples and the people of the region deserve better.”

In his address to the Council, Nadav Tamir presented what he termed a “23-state solution”: Israel, Palestine, and the 21 Arab states that endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative, normalizing relations and cooperating for mutual security and prosperity.