Bell returns from Israel

GAINESVILLE - Hall County Commissioner Ashley Bell returned Tuedsay from a trip to Israel as part of a national delegation of elected officials, civic leaders and political activists exploring critical foreign policy and national security issues in the Middle East.

"It really was a good educational process in how to deal with complex issues, Bell said. "The complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict really puts into perspective the issues that we deal with here in Hall County. We have some difficult but not impossible problems to face. Resolving these problems is a matter of getting down to the DNA of the issue  discussion, negotiation and agreement."

Bell was selected by the American International Education Foundation, the educational arm of American Israel Public Affairs Committee that funds the seminar. The program included discussions with current and former Israeli government officials, Palestinian Authority representatives and leading academics and journalists. It also included a tour of the Holy Land.

"It was a life-changing religious experience to visit the Holy Land. To walk alongside the actual steps of Christ was empowering," he added.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/9/241889