On Thursday, May 29th, the Geneva Initiative held a joint meeting at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem for members of the Israeli and Palestinian GI steering committes. Some 20 people participated in the meeting, held for the purpose of providing mutual updates and formulating operative plans for the future.

Many speakers, both Israeli and Palestinian poited out that frustration was widely spreading among both publics from the situation on the ground and the lack of tangible progres in negotiations. Several speakers said that despite being highly worried concerning the current situation, they were not pessimistic, and stressed that further action on behalf of Geneva Initiative was urgently needed.

Concerning the lack of progress in negotiations, some Palestinian speakers emphasized the rare opportunity embodied in the current Palestinian leadership, which is pragmatic and peace seeking. They voiced their worries about Israel's failure to improve conditions on the ground and the current interior political crisis.

Several ideas were raised for public campaigns, both joint and separate, and participants also discussed the various roles that a third party can play, both in overseeing the implementation of confidence building measures and in facilitating negotiations. The following operative decisions were made:

1. GI will send a joint Israeli-Palestinian delegation in September to meet with the presidential candidates, present them with the solution embodied in the Geneva Accord, and urge them to take an active role in advancing peace efforts in the region.
2. GI will launch a public campaign aimed at informing people on both sides on the dangers inherent in any failure to reach an agreement.

The following GI representatives participated in the meeting:

Palestinian steering committee: Qadoura Faris, Minsiter Ashraf Al-Ajrami, Jamal Zakout, Samih Al-Abed, PLC Member Abdullah Abdullah, Nidal Foqaha, Haidar Awadallah, Reem Aboushi, and Faisal Awartani.

Israeli steering committe: MK Yossi Beilin, Gadi Baltiansky, Yonatan Touval, Boaz Karni, Brig. Gen. (res.) Ilan Paz, Zvia Greenfield, and Gideon Samet.