Forward Thinking facilitate meetings with Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach of Ireland, with key political party activists and members of the Knesset in Israel and West Bank, 12th-15th April 2016

Forward Thinking, in partnership with the Edward Kennedy Institute at Maynooth University, facilitated a series of meetings for Bertie Ahern, the former Taoiseach of Ireland, with prominent political, diplomatic, academic, religious, civil society and business leaders in Israel and the West Bank from 12th-15th April 2016.The aim of the visit was for Mr Ahern to  meet with party activists and politicians from the region. This included Knesset Members from Labour, Likud and Shas, as well as with European and UN diplomatic representatives. In addition, Mr Ahern met with Dr Sabri Saidam from the Palestinian Ministry of Education and diverse members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.The meetings served as an opportunity for participants to discuss the personal accounts of the political and diplomatic experiences of Bertie Ahern, which led to the historic signing of the Good Friday Agreement, 1998. Holistic discussions explored the lessons learnt from people undergoing similar challenges from the imperfect, still ongoing peace process in Ireland.  Its foundations were built upon its comprehensive and inclusive approach, which allowed any group with an elected representative - including those who had previously been committed to armed struggle - to sit at the negotiating table if committed to a cessation of violence.In a keynote speech Bertie Ahern addressed the Labor Party leader, Isaac Herzog MK, the Secretary General, Hilik Bar MK, the Labor Party Foreign Relations Committee and a delegation of some 200 members and activists in Tel Aviv. He introduced personal insights perspectives of the peace process, exploring the importance of strong political leadership in helping secure a comprehensive, durable and inclusive agreement. The link to the speech can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzYN4wwDCQUThe meetings also allowed opportunity to follow-up on, and gain insights into, the recent visits of political leaders and groups to meet with Mr Ahern in Dublin, which have formed part of Forward Thinking’s Irish Peace Process Programme. Furthermore, the visit provided important opportunity to plan further activity in order to build on the visit.