“Some years ago, I headed the Israeli side of the Israeli-Palestinian ‘culture of peace’ negotiations to find what steps could be taken to create conditions for peace. My Palestinian counterpart and I travelled to Northern Ireland to see whether, a decade after the signing of the Good Friday agreement, there were lessons we could learn from the Irish experience.

The most inspiring insight we gained was a sense of how difficult it is not only to reach peace, but to keep it alive. It might seem strange but it was the challenges and daily dilemmas that offered the greatest inspiration. Witnessing the constant vigilance, sacrifice and compromise required from all parties to maintain the fragile peace made it seem real and tangible.”

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