UK, Australia, Canada announce ‘International Peace Fund’ for Israelis and Palestinians

The UK, Australia, and Canada announced Thursday an “International Peace Fund” for Israelis and Palestinians, meant to “support peacebuilding efforts to establish the conditions for a lasting peace.”

The three countries will give £1 million ($1.3 million) each over the next three years, with the hope that other countries will contribute. Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations will be eligible, according to a joint statement by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and her Australian and Canadian counterparts, Penny Wong and Anita Anand.

It will invest in initiatives that “advance a two-state solution, help reduce division, strengthen civil society, and support dialogue and cooperation within and between Israeli and Palestinian communities, building the foundations for peace.”

The effort comes as hopes for Israeli-Palestinian peace are widely considered dim following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, as well as a surge in settler violence in the West Bank.

“We are doing so at a moment of acute crisis in Israel and Palestine,” the top diplomats said. “The last three years have exacted a devastating and dehumanizing toll on civilians and deepened mistrust and division between communities. At the same time, civil society has faced increasing restrictions and unprecedented pressure.”

They said the fund will help marginalize Hamas, the terror group that rules the Strip, and other extremists.

The ministers said that their countries remain committed to “a just and lasting resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, based on a negotiated two-state solution in which Israeli and Palestinian people can live in peace, security and dignity.”

The Israeli government opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, and public support for a two-state solution has declined sharply from previous levels.

Their announcement came as Cooper hosted Wong and Anand for talks on the situation in the Middle East as well as other international affairs.

“Too often, Middle East peace is seen as an issue only of international diplomacy,” Cooper said in a separate statement from the UK Foreign Ministry. “When generations of Israelis and Palestinians have grown up with cycles of conflict and violence, we also need to support the local community organizations who are building dialogue, peace and trust across communities.”

The UK statement specified that the three countries “affirmed their commitment to ensure that Hamas should be disarmed, disempowered and dismantled as part of the 20-point Gaza peace plan, so it can play no part in the future governance of Palestine, and pose no future threat to the security of Israel.”

It also noted that the three ministers discussed “the global rise in antisemitic hatred and violence” and reiterated their commitment “to protect the freedom and safety of the Jewish communities that have been the target of appalling attacks in the UK, Australia and Canada over the past year.”

All three countries have seen a rise in antisemitism in recent years, and Australia was the site in December of a terror shooting at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach in which gunmen killed 15 people.

The Gaza war halted in October 2025 with a US-brokered 20-point ceasefire plan. However, sporadic clashes have continued as Gaza remains bisected between Israeli-held and Hamas-held areas. Hamas has so far rejected suggestions that it disarm.