The Peres Center for Peace: Meet the four women leading the way to peace
Amid a difficult geopolitical climate and with divisions between communities inside the State of Israel, ground-level peace initiatives are of the utmost importance.
By ZACHARY KEYSERClockwise from top left: Rachel Hadari, director of health, business and environment; Yarden Leal, deputy director-general; Efrat Duvdevani, director-general; and Tami Hay Sagiv, director of peace and innovation department.(photo credit: PERES CENTER FOR PEACE)
‘It takes more courage to make peace than to make war,” prime minister Shimon Peres once said.The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation was founded in 1996, built on the image of Peres’s vision for coexistence. Since its inception, the center’s main mission has been to bring people together from all walks of life through mutual interests such as sports, innovation, education, healthcare and other common concerns.Throughout its existence, the center has been working to connect all sectors and cultures in Israel – Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and others. The main idea is to educate people from different backgrounds to find harmony among one another through regular interactions and educational programs.“Through our various activities, participants continuously discover that we are all human and that we all have the ability to overcome barriers, fears and prejudices for a common purpose, all without losing our unique and diverse identities,” the Peres Center notes on its website.Amid a difficult geopolitical climate and with divisions between communities inside the State of Israel, ground-level peace initiatives are of the utmost importance. Such activities familiarize people with the possibility of peace, and help build bridges between regional communities.Four women now head the peace-making initiatives at the Peres Center: director-general Efrat Duvdevani; deputy director-general Yarden Leal; director of health, business and environment Rachel Hadari; and director of the peace and innovation department Tami Hay Sagiva. In honor of last week’s International Women’s Day, the Magazine spoke with these four peacemakers to discuss their experiences, successes and advice for those wanting to follow in their footsteps and become future voices of peace.Duvdevani, Leal, Hadari and Hay Sagiv have been involved in peace initiatives throughout their professional lives and share a real connection when it comes to “paving the way for shared-living between all of Israel’s citizens and lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors.”How these four women became peacebuilders and hopeful voices for change in Israeli society is a fascinating story of its own.Duvdevani began her public career in 1992, working with prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Following his assassination in 1995, she began to work directly with prime minister Shimon Peres. That work eventually led Duvdevani into a senior position at the Peres Center, where she has continued pursuing his mission and vision in the six years following his death.“I started working Shimon Peres actually 12 minutes after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated,” Duvdevani said. “For me, first and foremost, it was working with a leader that not only was one of the founders of Israel, but [one who] combined heart and mind together in his decisions and had a huge vision – someone who was always a true optimist.”Hadari said she became involved in anti-war campaigns in high school while still living in New York. When she arrived in Israel, she became interested in what could be done to achieve understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. In 2008, she began assisting healthcare initiatives for Palestinian children that involved Palestinian and Israeli doctors and medical staff.Hadari now heads the “Training Doctors” program, creating a network of Israeli and Palestinian medical professionals through training and cooperative education. To date, more than 260 Palestinian healthcare professionals have been trained, treating over 1.5 million Israeli patients in the process. Ninety percent of these Palestinian physicians end up serving in the Palestinian health sector upon completion of the program. Twenty have gone on to head hospitals or hospital departments.Hay Sagiv joined the Peres Center in 2007. Before that, she taught a course in conflict resolution at Tel Aviv University. She explained that her decision to join the Peres Center was a result of the political climate at the time.“I challenged myself over those years,” she said. “For me it was a personal mission to come work at the Peres Center.”Hay Sagiv leads the “Sports in the Service of Peace” project as well as many other educational programs focused on Arab-Israeli cohesion – many involving group discussions, action plans and conflict resolution. The sports program brings together twinned groups of Jewish and Arab children through sports. The program shows firsthand how kids from different religious and geographical backgrounds can become unlikely friends, as long as they are in a place that nurtures these blossoming relationships.Many of the children say they make sure to keep in touch during the week with their friendly rivals over the phone, even if just for a friendly hello.Leal has been at the Peres Center for 15 years, beginning as a project manager. She explained that her academic background in history helped her gain an affinity for peacebuilding.“As far as I am concerned, it was a match made in heaven,” said Leal.The team feels there might be an advantage to peacebuilding with a predominantly female staff. As part of its peace-building mission, the Peres Center hopes to be a role model and advocate for gender parity in the workplace.“While obviously the situation today is different than what it was during the establishment of the state, let’s not fool ourselves,” Leal said. “Women are still earning less than men are. So absolutely, focusing on making sure the staff here is diversified is extremely important…. With our current projects surrounding innovation and entrepreneurial programs we are also advocating for women executives, women entrepreneurs and women [leaders].”She added that many Israeli and Arab girls don’t receive the encouragement to embark on leadership endeavors, and the center gives them a place to feel confident not only in sports, but also in education and peacebuilding. Leal noted that many of the CEOs and executives with whom the Peres Center partners on the Palestinian side are femalel.The women executives at the Peres Center feel wholeheartedly that women are the key to peace.“I think the most important thing with women is that they are practical,” said Duvdevani. “There is a common denominator for women, which primarily is a family-first attitude, looking at education, looking at bettering lives for the family, for the children. We are always looking for the most efficient solution, no matter the situation.”Hay Sagiv gave an example within the center’s soccer program. She said the boys are more attuned to the physical contact that is involved with sports, whereas the girls are not. Hay Sagiv notes that this difference in competitive natures allows girls to often be better communicators, connecting with others almost even if they don’t necessarily know the details of their religious or societal backgrounds.“Female leadership to me is not just being in a position, but taking the initiative and making things happen for others,” Duvdevani said. “When Shimon Peres held his first public position in the IDF, he told us, all the positions were held by men, and women weren’t even taken into consideration. Throughout his public positions he found out that a woman’s power had advantages; that ‘women in power have less ego,’ and tend to look at the whole picture instead of into their personal interests.”“For us, it’s a legacy and a mission we are continuing here.”
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