Peres Center for Peace
| Founder(s) | Shimon Peres |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Location | Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Area served | Israel, Palestinian Territories, Arab World |
| Focus | Health & Medicine, Sports, Agriculture, Environment, Business, Education, Youth, Technology, the Arts |
| Mission | "The Peres Center for Peace is Israel’s leading non-profit organization promoting peace-building between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and in particular between Israelis and Palestinians. Programs are designed to empower the populations of this region to be actively engaged in peace-building in order to advance the creation of a real, effective and durable peace."[1] |
| Method | Dialogue and People-to-People Interaction, Capacity Building, Youth Cooperation, Business and Economic Cooperation, Humanitarian Response |
| Website | www.peres-center.org |
The Peres Center for Peace located in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization founded in 1996 by Nobel Peace Laureate and current President of Israel Shimon Peres, with the aim of furthering his vision in which people of the Middle East region work together to build peace through socio-economic cooperation and development, and people-to-people interaction. The first Director General of the Peres Center was Ambassador Uri Savir, who, together with Shimon Peres, established the organization and currently serves as President. The Director General of the center is Dr. Ron Pundak. The men and women who comprise the executive board are CEOs, Directors, and Presidents of various organizations, as well as scholars, academics, and journalists.
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[edit] Activities
The Peres Center's peace-building activities are based on four main pillars: People-to-People Dialogue and Interaction; Capacity-Building through Cooperation; Nurturing a Culture of Peace in the Region's Youth; and Humanitarian Responses.
In October 2008, the Center commemorated its tenth anniversary in a series of festive events and extravagant festivities at a cost of ten million NIS but did not completely recoup the costs.[2]
[edit] Peres Peace House
In 2003, construction began on the main building to house the Shimon Peres’ historical archives, a peace library, and to serve as offices of the Center and as a focal point for the Center’s growing community work in the Ajami, an Arab neighborhoods of Jaffa. The cost of the center was estimated at $6 million and timeline of three years. As of August 2009, the cost had increased to about NIS100 million (around 400% increase) and the building is unfinished.[2]
The Peres Peace House was opened in December 2009 after 10 year of planning and construction. The building (2,500 sq.m.), a distinctive architectural landmark on the Jaffa coast, was designed by renowned Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas.[3]
[edit] Awards
In 2010 the Peres Peace House won the Emilio Ambasz Prize for Green Architecture and the Yesodot Ha'emek Prize for Israeli Architecture.[4]
[edit] Projects
The peacebuilding activities of the Peres Center fall into eight fields: Agriculture and Water; Business and Economics; Civil Society Dialogue and Cooperation; Information Technology (IT) Peace Projects; Medicine and Healthcare; Mediterranean 2020; Peace Education.
The Business and Economics department coordinates activities of the Aix Group an Israeli-Palestinian-international economic study team that publishes policy papers on long-term economic solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
[edit] Denied tax-exempt status
The Peres Center has been denied tax-exempt status as a non-profit in Israel by the Israel Tax Authority and the Registrar of Non-Profits. According to an article in Haaretz, the reason was due to the Peres Center's support for "a project that brings physicians from the Gaza Strip to Israeli hospitals for training purposes."[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Peres Center for Peace (2011). Developing Tomorrow's Peace. p. 1. http://www.peres-center.org/perescenterbrochure.pdf.
- ^ a b Blau, Uri (21 August 2009). "Peres Center for Peace building costs four times more than planned - compromising budgets for programming". HaAretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1108969.html. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
- ^ Ron Friedman, (18-12-2009), "Peres Center arrives alongside Ajami", The Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=163512
- ^ e-architect (2010). "Architecture Awards, Israel, 2010 : Buildings + Architects". http://www.e-architect.co.uk/awards/emilio_ambasz_award.htm.
- ^ Peres Center told: Choose between Gaza health project and tax break
[edit] External links
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