The board of the Arab-West Foundation decided in its meeting on April 22, to adopt this statement with steps that are believed to be necessary to end the cycle of violence and reach a moment in which Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace. This statement was written by Cornelis Hulsman with advice of AWF advisor Eildert Mulder.

Cornelis Hulsman is a Dutch sociologist who, since 1974, has been engaged in various dialogue activities, with Jewish Israelis and Palestinians and peoples of all religions. He believes dialogue is only possible if we know the truth and dismantle myths such as the belief of many religious Jews and some Christians that Jews have the right to claim the land based on God's promises.

Dutch Arabist and advisor to AWF Eildert Mulder is an authority on contemporary Islam and the Middle East. After a one year study of theology, he studied Arabic with a minor in Hebrew. In the early 1980s he  served as Captain-interpretor with the UNIFIL in Lebanon. Between 1984 and 2015, he served as editor with the Dutch Daily Trouw from 1984-2015 and focused on the Middle East and Islam.  Since his retirement in 2015 he writes a weekly column in Trouw called "In the shadow of the minaret." Mulder is a strong proponent of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and believes lessons can be learned from important concepts of 11th century Muslim Scholar Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali that are relevant for dialogue. Al-Ghazali remains a major authority for contemporary Muslims. Also other scholars, Jewish and Muslim, provided highly relevant thoughts on dialogue between peoples with highly different views.