Murdered peace activist Vivian Silver remembered with new prize

Vivian Silver, a Canadian-born resident of Kibbutz Be’eri and well-known peace activist who was murdered in her home during the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack, will be memorialized with a prize established by her family and friends —the Vivian Silver Impact Award, through the New Israel Fund.

Silver, 74, was known as a founder of Kibbutz Gezer, an initiator of Women Wage Peace and, along with Bedouin activist Amal Alsana-Alhjooj, a leader of the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation in the Negev. She was also a member of the board of directors of the New Israel Fund.

For more than a month after October 7, Silver was declared missing and thought to have been captured and held hostage in Gaza. On November 14 of last year, her family confirmed that her remains had finally been identified via DNA.

The Vivian Silver Impact prize will be awarded annually to two women, one Jewish and one Palestinian, who work in fields that were central to Silver’s life — establishing Arab-Jewish partnership in Israel, advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace, and advancing women to positions of leadership and decision-making. Recipients will be awarded $15,000 each.

This year’s winners are Palestinian political scientist Dr. Rula Hardal and Israeli lawyer and activist May Pundak.

Hardal and Pundak are the joint directors of A Land for All, a shared movement of Israelis and Palestinians who advocate for peace, security and stability through a reimagined two-state solution.

The prize will be awarded to Hardal and Pundak at a ceremony on November 21 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and will also be live-streamed with a simultaneous translation to English.