Institute of International Education | Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

This year marked the first time that the Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East was awarded to two women leaders.

“While there is no magic solution, one positive force may be to encourage people to live and work together at the grass roots, learning to trust and depend on one another for their common good.”

— Vic Goldberg, IIE Trustee

"The Goldberg IIE Prize will encourage some of the best and the brightest young professionals to contribute their valuable knowledge and experience to the cause of peace in the Middle East, and will reward them for their courage and conviction in doing so."

— Allan Goodman, IIE President

Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

The 2011 Goldberg IIE Prize was presented on June 21, 2011, to Amal Elsana Alh'jooj and Vivian Silver, Co-Executive Directors of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED).

Read the press release
Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

Bassam Aramin and Avner Wishnitzer received the 2010 Goldberg IIE Prize for their role as co-founders of Combatants for Peace, an organization established in 2005 by Palestinians and Israelis who had played active roles as combatants and then committed themselves instead to non-violent activism.
Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

In 2009, the 5th annual Goldberg Prize was presented to Nimrod Goren, Director of the Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation, and Hakam Jadallah, Director of the Palestinian Youth Forum for Cooperation for their joint initiative, Fresh Start.
Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

Aziz Abu Sarah and Lily Yaffe receive the 2008 Goldberg IIE Prize for their work with The Parents Circle Family Forum, conducting educational activities that draw on their personal stories and the experiences of hundreds of bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to violence in the region.
Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

Amin Khalaf and Lee Gordon, two veteran Israeli educators, receive the 2007 Goldberg Prize from U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Gene Cretz, to recognize their pioneering work in co-founding Hand in Hand and developing multicultural, bilingual Arab-Jewish schools.
Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East

In 2006, U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones presented the Goldberg IIE Prize to Ibrahim Abu Shindi and Hadas Kaplan for their work in creating the Arab-Jewish Community Center in Yaffo, an innovative and sustainable community organization that promotes inter-cultural dialogue, co-existence, and community empowerment.

2012 Goldberg IIE Prize

The Goldberg IIE Prize recognizes an outstanding Arab-Israeli team working together to advance peace in the Middle East.

The 2012 Prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, June 26th.

The winners for 2012 are Attorney Hassan Jabareen, the founder and General Director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Attorney Dan Yakir, the Chief Legal Counsel at The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), for their work in promoting equal rights for Arab citizens in Israel. Protecting the rights of Israel's Arab citizens is crucial to preserving peace and stability in Israel. Adalah and ACRI use the Israeli legal system in order to foster a just and tolerant society, in which Jewish and Arab citizens can live as equals.

2011 Goldberg IIE Prize

The 2011 Goldberg IIE Prize was presented on June 21, 2011, to Amal Elsana Alh'jooj and Vivian Silver, Co-Executive Directors of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED) in recognition of their efforts to promote peace and development within the Jewish and Arab society in Israel. Specifically, the award recognized their initiatives to train and empower the Arab Bedouin community of the Negev with a particular emphasis on the crucial role of women in the process of community development, through the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation (AJEEC).

The ceremony took place at the Peace Tent (Al Sa’ada) in the Arab Bedouin city of Rahat. The event was hosted by IIE in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Andrew Parker, the U.S. Embassy Consul General gave opening remarks. Victor Goldberg, an IIE Trustee, and Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president at IIE, presented the award. The ceremony was attended by more than 200 people, including distinguished guests, Mr. Faiz Abu Sehiban, Mayor of Rahat, members of the international diplomatic corps, and national and regional policy makers.

Meet the 2011 Winners

Goals of the Prize

To advance the cause of peace in the Middle East
To bring people together across religious, cultural, ethnic, and political divides
To break down barriers of hate towards "the other"
To recognize innovation and reward those who are courageous and committed enough to work to overcome the religious, cultural, ethnic and political issues which divide the region
To inspire others in the U.S. and the Middle East
To motivate current and future IIE grantees to work toward peace in the Middle East

Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2011 Article: Building Peace One Prize at a Time

One Small Step for Peace-kind: A blog post about the 2011 Goldberg IIE Prize Ceremony

Israel 21C: Negev Institute Directors Win Peace Prize

Ha'aretz: Peace Prize

Call for Nominations (117 KB, PDF)

Nomination form
(102 KB, DOC)

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