Forward Thinking hold meetings in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 8th-11th December 2015

Forward Thinking travelled to Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 8th-11th December, for a series of bilateral and roundtable meetings with Israeli and Palestinian political leaders, youth leaders, business figures, and civil society activists. These figures represented a broad range of positions across the spectrum of Israeli and Palestinian politics and society, and provided a detailed insight into the current leadership-constituency dynamics within Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Of particular note was the lively, detailed and constructive debate held between young leaders in Gaza, across the political and factional spectrum, focusing on the relationship between political activism and party affiliation.The meetings built upon previous discussions concerning the activities of Forward Thinking’s Middle East programme, including the planning of further visits to Belfast, Dublin and London as part of the Irish Peace Process project.