Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AAFD): workshop on “Democratic Elections in the Arab World: Lessons & Strategies for the Liberal Movement” in Rabat, Morocco from 1-4 April, 2012
The “Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AAFD)” – formerly known as the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL), is a coalition of Arab liberal parties and organizations.
This workshop in Rabat was conducted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in cooperation the AAFD. Participants discussed and analyzed the results of the democratic elections in the region following the “Arab Spring” and the performance of liberal parties and candidates. Participants in this workshop were members and leaders of liberal parties and organizations from the Arab World. From Palestine, Mr. Suleiman Abu Dayyeh from the Foundation’s office in Jerusalem took part.
Farewell to Palestine
Dr. Fleck’s Speech
In the presence of Dr. Khuloud Daibes, the Tourism Minister of Palestine, as well as around 70 representatives of Palestinian civil associations and the German Community, Dr. Hans-Georg Fleck, Resident Representative of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in Israel and the Palestine made his farewell to Palestine. On March 31, 2012, Dr. Fleck will accomplish his work in this region, where he has been working for more than 6 years.
Beginning with short greetings, the representatives of the partner organizations thanked the liberal foundation for its function in the past few years, through which the FNF has proved itself as a good and reliable partner for the concerns of Palestine. Dr. Walid Shomaly, representative of “Freedom Forum Palestine” and Walid Salem, a Palestinian liberal intellectual thanked Dr. Fleck in particular for his consistent commitment to the promotion of liberal values in Palestine.
15th Session : Palestinian – Israeli Young Business Leaders Forum
The 15th session of the Forum took place on Thursday March 22nd 2012 as a field visit to the Haaretz publishing house in Tel Aviv. The first part of this session was a continuation of the brainstorming on the professional potential of the Forum. The second part comprised of a discussion round with Amos Schocken, Haaretz Publisher and Guy Rolnick, Editor-in-Chief The Marker, Deputy Publisher Haaretz on the Topic: “Israel’s Social Protest Movement – A Trigger for Economic Reforms”
Weekend seminar: „The struggle for teaching the past“
At the Weekend between 9 – 10 March, 2012, our partner: The forum for Liberal Thinking conducted a weekend seminar on the topic: „The struggle for teaching the past“.
To view the program of the seminar (in Hebrew), please click here
To view photos from the seminar, please click here
Farewell to Dr. Hans-Georg Fleck
Dr. Fleck holds a short welcoming speech
On 23rd February, 2012, Dr. Hans-Georg Fleck, project director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in Jerusalem, made his farewell to the foundation’s friends and partners in Israel. After living and working in Israel and Palestine for almost 7 years, Dr. Fleck will work in the near future as the project director of the Foundation in Istanbul. About 80 guests attended Dr. Fleck’s farewell event in Jerusalem, there were former and current Knesset members, diplomats, representatives of academies, project managers of the FNF-Foundation from other countries, journalists and representatives of civil societies. Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt, member of the German parliament and chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, also attended this event as the guest of honor.
To view the photos, please click here
Visit of Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt to Israel 22nd to 24th , February 2012
On the 23rd of February, the German artist Gabriele von Lutzau gave over her sculpture titled Flügel “Buchenwald” (“Wings Buchenwald”) to the Yad-Vashem memorial site. On this occasion, Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt, member of the German parliament and chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, came to visit us.
During the three days of his stay in Israel, Dr. Gerhardt met the employees of the foundation and joined a session of our ME 2.0 Palestinian – Israeli Young Business Leaders Forum. Moreover, he was the guest of honor of the farewell ceremony of the project director of the Foundation, Dr. Fleck.
English report will be available soon
To view the photos, please click here
14th Session : Palestinian – Israeli Young Business Leaders Forum
Session XIV of the ME 2.0 Young Business Leaders Forum was dedicated to brainstorming the content of future sessions as well as to a most insightful lecture by Dr. Meinardus, Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung on Egypt’s Revolution and current developments there.
FNF Internal workshop on Freedom and Religion
From the 19th to the 23rd of February 2012, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in Jerusalem hosted an internal workshop on “Freedom and Religion”. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the compatibility of freedom and religion and to work on a liberal position about this subject. The participants of the workshop were members of the Foundation coming from all around the world to exchange their information and opinion about the subject. They reported about the current development of the relationship between freedom and religion in their countries and presented their work and regional projects on freedom and religion.
Parliamentary Group of the Liberal Party in the German State of Hesse visiting Israel and the Palestinian Autonomous Territories
From February, 3rd to 6th , the Jerusalem office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty(FNF) hosted a delegation of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) comprising of members of the party`s parliamentary group in the Hessian Landtag, the regional parliament. Among the delegation members, FNF welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Hesse, Jörg Uwe Hahn, the Chairman of the FDP Parliamentary Group, Florian Rentsch, and Heinrich Heidel, the Deputy Speaker of the Landtag.
Weekend seminar: „Illegal Immigration and its aspects: The liberal point of view“
At the Weekend between 20 – 21 April, 2012, our partner: The forum for Liberal Thinking conducted a weekend seminar on the topic: „Illegal immigration and its aspects: The liberal point of view“. The seminar was held in Hebrew.
To view the program (in Hebrew), please click here