Press Releases

Bereaved Palestinian and Israeli Families Honored for Promoting Reconciliation

For Immediate Release

Press Release

June 24, 2008

JERUSALEM

Fourth Annual Goldberg IIE Prize Recognizes Parents Circle Family Forum members, Aziz Abu Sarah and Lily Yaffe as an Innovative Palestinian-Israeli Team Working Together To Advance Peace in the Middle East

JERUSALEM – On June 24 at the American Center in Jerusalem, U.S. Consulate General Deputy Principal Officer Thomas Duffy and U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Luis G. Moreno hosted a reception to honor the recipients of the 2008 Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East.  Aziz Abu Sarah and LilyYaffe received the Goldberg IIE Prize for their work with the Parents Circle Family Forum, conducting educational activities that draw on their own very moving personal stories and the experiences of hundreds of bereaved families, half Palestinian and half Israeli, who have lost immediate family members due to the violence in the region. 

Mr. Abu Sarah and Ms.Yaffe have played an important part in the Dialogue Meetings conducted by the Parents Circle Family Forum, with the goal of creating a gradual change in the views and perceptions of Israeli and Palestinian youth.  As trained facilitators, they reach out to young people in Israeli and Palestinian high schools, youth movements and community groups.  By describing their own deeply personal loss and their unwillingness to avenge, they encourage the students to begin the long process of transforming their own feelings of suspicion and fear toward the other side. The award recognizes their success in promoting reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge.

The Goldberg award is presented each year by the Institute of International Education (IIE), a New York-based non-profit organization.  The prize recognizes outstanding work being conducted jointly by two individuals, one Arab and one Israeli, working together to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East and includes a $10,000 prize.  The initiator of the award, Mr. Victor J. Goldberg, who was also in attendance, explained its significance further,  “the intent of this award is to recognize innovation and reward those who are courageous and committed enough to work together to overcome the religious, cultural, ethnic, and political issues which divide the Middle East.  We hope not only to recognize significant work being conducted today, but also to inspire others to join together across these divides to advance the cause of peace in the coming years.”

For further information on the prize, see www.iie.org/goldbergprize.