The Israeli Forum
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES FOR JEWISH MINISTERS
AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
The Project
The Israeli Forum's international conference for Jewish ministers, deputy ministers and members of parliament is held in Jerusalem once every two years. The first conference,
held in January 1988, was initiated by Knesset Members Ehud Olmert and Nava Arad and held under the auspices of the Knesset spokesman at the time, Knesset Member Shlomo Hillel. The Israeli Forum was chosen to lead and implement the initiative, to bring together Jewish public electives from all over the world for a meeting with their Israeli colleagues, to engage in meaningful discussion and to acquaint the guests with the Israeli political realities.
The conferences are organized and held in full cooperation with the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each conference is chaired by two knesset members, who represent the two big political parties in Israel and by a chairman representing the Israeli Forum. Among the people who haved chaired the conferences in the past are: Avraham Burg, Dr. Yossi Beilin, Uri Or, Ronni Milo, Eli Dayan and Dan
Meridor.
The conferences convene for five days and include meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister, the President of Israel, Head of the opposition party , ministers, knesset members, and other public representatives. Discussions are held on topics that concern universal parliamentarian issues alongside updates and analyses of current affairs in the Middle East. In addition, tours designed to provide essential information as to the issues faced by the Israeli political system are provided. The last conference, which was the fourth such conference held, included tours of Jerusalem, Jericho, an IDF army base in the Bikaa and Ma'aleh Adumim, during which the participants met with the heads of the Judea and Samaria Council, senior IDF commanders and senior representatives from the Palestinian Authority.
Facts and Figures
143 representatives have participated in the conferences held to date, 10% of whom participated more than once.
The last conference (1996) was attended by 60 representatives from 25 countries among them, 2 ministers, 4 deputy ministers, 1 parliament chairman, 1 deputy parliament chairman, 2 heads of central parliament committees, 3 senators, 1 mayor, 2 party leaders, and parliament members and congressmen.
The Future
The project organizers aspire to create an on-going process of networking and exchange of information among parliament members who take part in the conference and continue to serve in public offices. The conferences themselves will continue to convene once every two years, as the peak of this process. Preparations for the Fifth International Conference of Jewish Ministers and Members of Parliament, planned to convene in October 1997, will be slightly different from previous years, and an international steering committee comprised of parliament members who have attended more than two conferences will be directly involved in the generation of the conference program.
For further information please contact
Niki Jackson:
Tel: 972-3-6878810
Fax: 972-3-6878814
email: moriah@israelforum.org.il
The Pedagogic Center
Director: Dr. Motti Friedman
Web site manager: Esther Carciente, esthers@jajz-ed.org.il.
Updated: December 23 ,1996