Jerusalem Peace Prize
Jerusalem Peace Prize
The Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize recognises the inspirational and extraordinary contributions and devoted efforts of Australians seeking to aid Palestinians in their call for justice. By sharing the amazing efforts and tireless dedication of our recipients, we will remind the supporters of justice for Palestine of their noble ambitions and further shine a light on our hope for a just peace, and also inspire the next generation of advocates seeking justice for the Palestinians. The Jerusalem (AL QUDS) Peace Prize is an initiative of Australians for Palestine and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.
Sl | Name | Country | Flag | Year | Awarded For |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | Dr Helen McCue | Australia | 2023 | for her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause. | |
4 | Melissa Parke | Australia | 2022 | for her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause. | |
3 | Dr. Gary Foley | Australia | 2021 | for her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause. | |
2 | Antony Loewenstein | Australia | 2019 | for her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause. | |
1 | Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees | Australia | 2018 | for her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause. |
Jerusalem Peace Prize Laureates (2030 ~ 2018)
Melissa Parke
Jerusalem Peace Prize 2022
Australians for Palestine (AFP) and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2022 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize as former international lawyer with the UN, former Member for Fremantle, and former Minister for International Development of Australia, the Hon. Melissa Parke.
The Hon. Melissa Parke was chosen for the 2022 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize because of her integrity, honour, and commitment to the Palestinian cause.
Dr. Gary Edward Foley
Jerusalem Peace Prize 2021
Australians for Palestine (AFP) and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2021 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize as Aboriginal Gumbaynggirr intellectual, activist, academic, writer, storyteller and actor, Dr. Gary Foley, who is currently Professor of History at Victoria University.
Foley was a key member of the Aboriginal Self-Determination (Black Power) Movement that established the first Aboriginal Legal and Health services in the early 1970s.
He was also a key figure in establishing the famous Aboriginal Tent Embassy protest of 1972, and has been at the centre of major political activities in Australia for more than 50 years. In particular, he saw the power of theatre and film as a way of highlighting the political challenges facing his people which in 2015 saw him awarded the Australia Council’s Red Ochre Award for a lifetime achievement in the Arts.
More recently at Victoria University, Dr. Foley’s Aboriginal History Archive comprising a lifetime’s collection of documents on Aboriginal political activism, is being built into Australia’s first and only online digital archive on the Australian Black Power, Land Rights and Self-determination Movement.
As the struggles of indigenous peoples became more visible in settler states, it was only natural that Foley and others would find inspiration in the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. In the late 1970s, he worked with the former Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s representative for the Oceania region, Ali Kazak to establish a Black-Palestinian solidarity movement in Australia. They both saw the Palestinian and Aboriginal struggle as part of the same fight for justice against settler-colonial occupation. This led to Foley, Kazak and Melbourne university academic Suzannah Henty organising the historic first Black-Palestinian Solidarity Conference in Australia in November 2019 focused around Indigenous resistance against settler-colonial occupation in Australia and Palestine. In his keynote address, Gary Foley stated:
“All Aboriginal people in Australia, like all Palestinian people, are impacted by the ongoing occupation of our homelands. The ongoing attempts to assimilate us, the ongoing and never-ending implications of settler colonialism that are not diminishing but getting stronger, impacts all people. When I see what is going on in occupied Palestine, it hurts me”.
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Antony Loewenstein
Jerusalem Peace Prize 2019
Australians for Palestine and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2019 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize is journalist, author, and film-maker Antony Loewenstein.
Antony’s best-selling book “My Israel Question” generated a storm of controversy because of his forensic discussion of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the intimidatory way Zionist lobby groups have affected political discourse and news media to shape their version of Middle-Eastern politics. His foray into this veritable minefield saw him personally attacked and even shunned by his community and relatives.
He co-founded Independent Australian Jewish Voices and has said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement “is a logical and non-violent response to human rights abuses in Palestine.
The award will be presented by last year’s prize winner Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees AM at a black-tie dinner in Queen’s Hall, Victorian State Parliament on Friday 22 November 2019. In response to the award, Antony will be in conversation with the celebrated journalist and television news presenter, Mary Kostakidis.
Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees
Jerusalem Peace Prize 2018
Professor emeritus Stuart Rees AM will receive the inaugural 2018 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize in recognition of his persistent and courageous advocacy for the human rights of all Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, the refugee camps and the Palestinian diaspora generally.
The prize will be awarded by former Foreign Minister and NSW State Premier the Hon Bob Carr at a dinner in Queen’s Hall at the Victorian State Parliament on the United Nations Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Thursday 29 November 2018. It will also be an occasion to hear Professor Rees deliver the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize lecture.
Nasser Mashni, chair of Australians for Palestine and Board Member of the Australia-Palestine Advocacy Network, said the choice of Professor Rees will help highlight the undiminished fervour for resolution of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people from a person who has dedicated his life to social justice around the world.
“For all his inspirational work on Palestine,” said Mr Mashni, “nothing reveals more about Stuart Rees’ humanity than his belief in a simple anecdote about a Palestinian refugee who wanted to discuss with Israeli students his right to return, only to be told ‘you want to kick us out’. ‘No,’ the Palestinian replied, ‘I simply want to live with you.’”
Stuart Rees is a prominent Australian academic, author, poet and ethicist, whose life has almost totally revolved around human rights and conflict resolution. In 2005, he was awarded a Membership of the Order of Australia for service to international relations, particularly as Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney and through the establishment of the highly-regarded Sydney Peace Prize.
Professor Rees was commended for the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize for his scholarship and activism in pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people, his staunch commitment to the UN-declared international status of the city of Jerusalem since 1947 and his belief in peace with justice for the benefit of all peoples living in the Holy Land.
His numerous books, his several anthologies of poetry, and his willingness to write and speak publicly on social justice issues, have seen him described as one of the most humane voices in Australia today. “Those issues have driven his indomitable quest to find out what it really means to be human and to alert us all to our common humanity,” said Mr Mashni.
Professor Rees said he felt “very honoured” to be recognised from amongst the many long-committed voices for Palestine in Australia.
“This award comes at a time when Jerusalem is facing great challenges from influential global powers to its UN-protected international status, UN Security Council resolutions, international law and majority consensus. We cannot allow antagonistic voices to weaken the hopes of so many for a peaceful and sustainable solution,” he said.
“Jerusalem’s spiritual, cultural and legal character are under serious threat and only a concerted effort of advocacy and activism by people everywhere, can Palestinians possibly hope to see an end to their displacement, eviction and expulsion.”
The Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize will be awarded annually by Australians for Palestine and the Australia-Palestine Advocacy Network.