At America House in Jerusalem last week, Sarah Perle Benazera and Ohood Murqaten, co-chairmen of the YaLa Young Leaders Core Leadership Group, received the 2016 International Institute of Education Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East for their roles leading the charge for peace and positive social change in their communities and in the region.
They are part of a dynamic and talented leadership team that has made YaLa Young Leaders the broadest and fastest-growing Middle East peace movement today, with nearly a million members from all across the MENA region, hailing from Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Qatar. The prize, which includes a $10,000 check, was established and endowed in 2005 by Victor J. Goldberg, a retired IBM executive, who is a longtime trustee of the New York-based IIE. American consul-general Donald Blome also attended the ceremony. An online movement led by young adults, for young adults, YaLa focuses on dialogue and engagement as a means to securing a safe, productive, and peaceful region, capitalizing on the catalyzing power of social networks, media and technology to lead their generation to a better future.
Benazera and Murqaten coordinate a diverse Middle Eastern team of administrators who manage the YaLa Young Leaders’ Facebook page, reaching an average of 65,000 people per day. During times of high tension in the region, the YaLa page provides a safe environment for young people on both sides to search for a different point of view on the situation, and to find partners for dialogue.
The group also created the YaLa Press blog platform to share more in-depth personal stories and experiences and show the human face of the Middle East. It is believed to be the first-ever blog platform to connect young Arabs and Israelis from across the region, and now has more than 270 blog posts online.
Benazera is a peace believer, peace activist, storyteller and educator, with years of hands-on experience in international and intercultural dialogue working at the people-to-people level for a better Middle East. In addition to working as a project manager at YaLa Young Leaders, she has been involved in various peace and cooperation projects, organizing conferences, participating in panels and programs about peace. Murqaten has a BA in television and media studies from Al-Quds University and more than five years of experience in the media, communications, social justice and peace-building sectors in Palestine.”
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