PArticipants of Forum
Israeli Palestinian organization wins peace and reconciliation award
The Israeli-Palestinian Parents Circle - Families Forum to receive SOLIDAR'S Silver Rose Award for 2007 from European Parliament
The Israeli-Palestinian Parents Circle – Families Forum is
to receive the SOLIDAR organization's Silver Rose Award for 2007. The award will be given in the International Peace and Reconciliation category.
Louisa Morgantini, deputy president of the European Parliament, known for her activism for human rights and social justice, submitted the Forum's candidacy for the prize.
Bereaved Families Forum
Tamar Dressler
In 1994, Hamas murdered 19 year-old Arik Frankenthal. In response to this tragedy, his father, Yitzhak Frankenthal, decided to establish the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum. This past weekend 90 of its members gathered for a unique conference in East Jerusalem
The prize will be awarded to the Families' Forum at a ceremony in October at the European Parliament in Brussels. In addition to the ceremony, SOLIDAR will hold meetings between the award winners and leading decision-makers in Europe, members of the press, and representatives of peace organizations.
In the announcement of the award, SOLIDAR wrote: “A number of unusual candidates were offered for the prize this year, and the panel of judges had a tough time choosing the winner. The judges were impressed by the devotion of and excellence of the candidates this year and the Israeli-Palestinian Parents Circle – Families Forum stood out, thanks to its tireless dedication to peace and reconciliation."
Aharon Barnea, the Forum’s director of external relations, said: "It is a great honor for us to receive recognition of our activities to promote peace and reconciliation between the two peoples in our region. This award proves to us that we are succeeding in conveying the message that there are many people on both sides who are interested in promoting peace and reconciliation, including some who have paid a heavy price as a result of the conflict."
SOLIDAR's Silver Rose Awards were first given six years ago, to raise awareness of people and organizations acting for social justice, both in Europe and throughout the world.
The Bereaved Families Forum is a peace-seeking voluntary organization of hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian families who lost a first-degree relative in the ongoing violent conflict, and believe in ending the conflict by a fair and agreed political settlement through dialogue and reconciliation between the two peoples.
SOLIDAR is an independent international alliance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who are involved in social service provision, international cooperation, humanitarian aid, etc. Members of the organization are active in more than 90 countries around the world.
