Dan Yakir (left) and Hassan Jabareen, photo by Anner GreenThe Institute of International Education (IIE) announced today (18 June 2012) that Attorney Hassan Jabareen, the founder and General Director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Attorney Dan Yakir, the Chief Legal Counsel at The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), have been selected to receive the 2012 Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East. IIE awards this prize annually to recognize outstanding work being conducted jointly by two individuals, one Arab and one Israeli, working together to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East. The two individuals whose work is judged to be most successful in bringing people together and breaking down the barriers of hatred toward “the other” share a $10,000 prize. The Selection Committee for the Prize includes leading experts from academia, the non-profit sector, and government.
IIE Trustee Victor J. Goldberg said, “This award recognizes innovation, and rewards those who are courageous and committed enough to work together to overcome the religious, cultural, ethnic, and political issues which divide the Middle East. We hope that the dedication shown by our prize winners will inspire others to join together across these divides to advance the cause of peace in the coming years.” According to Dr. Allan E. Goodman, IIE’s President and CEO, “The winners we celebrate each year exemplify the kinds of joint action that are needed to resolve conflicts in this region and around the world. They embody Vic Goldberg’s long-time commitment to bettering the world through international cooperation.”
Mr. Jabareen, an Arab citizen of Israel, and Mr. Yakir, a Jewish citizen of Israel, have been selected to receive the Goldberg Prize in recognition of their work together in promoting equal rights for Arab citizens in Israel, in the belief that protecting the rights of Israel’s Arab citizens is crucial to preserving peace and stability. As legal leaders of Adalah and ACRI, they are working together to use the Israeli legal system to foster a just and tolerant society, in which Jewish and Arab citizens can live as equals.
Both winners were law fellows in the New Israel Fund Civil Liberties Law Fellows Program of the Washington College of Law at American University, where they received Master of Law degrees. They have demonstrated a unique ability to work together to bring the perspective of both Jewish and Arab citizens before the Israeli Supreme Court. In 2011, the New Israel Fund presented Mr. Jabareen with the Herman Schwartz Award for human rights lawyering and Mr. Yakir with the Guardian of Human Rights Prize. Their work in advancing the rights of Palestinians has been called a critical link to achieving the reconciliation and positive engagement that is needed to advance peace in the region.
A leading human rights lawyer in Israel, Hassan Jabareen founded Adalah (which means Justice in the Arabic language) in 1996, the first Arab-run legal center in Israel. He regularly litigates landmark constitutional rights cases before the Israeli Supreme Court using Israeli domestic law and international human rights standards to seek to achieve equal rights for Arab citizens. He also teaches in the law faculties of Tel Aviv and Haifa universities. Prior to founding Adalah, he worked for four years as a Staff Attorney with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Under Mr. Jabareen’s leadership, Adalah received UN ECOSOC status, the Civil Rights Award of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and the award for NGO excellence and good governance from the Welfare Association. Mr. Jabareen received the First Annual Peter Cicchino Award for Outstanding Advocacy in the Public Interest in 2000. In 2005 he was selected as a Yale World Fellow.
Dan Yakir has held the position of Chief Legal Counsel at ACRI, a preeminent human rights and civil liberties organization in Israel, since 1995. He began at the organization in 1989 as an attorney. He has since brought a wide variety of precedent-setting cases to Israel’s Supreme Court and is recognized as one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers. Landmark rulings achieved as a result of Mr. Yakir’s litigation cover issues such as the ban on the use of physical force as an accepted interrogation method employed by the security services and the prohibition on discrimination against Arab citizens in the allocation of state lands. This year, ACRI was awarded the Gruber Justice Prize in recognition of the decades-long legacy of excellent legal advocacy and strategic litigation for human rights. In July 2007, Mr. Yakir was awarded the New Israel Fund UK Human Rights Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in the field of human rights and civil liberties in Israel.
Working together, the partnership between Mr. Jabareen and Mr. Yakir has forged new ground both legally and in public discourse and impact, drawing upon their professionalism and unyielding commitment, and the respect they have earned from the Arab and Jewish Israeli public and officials.
For more information about the Goldberg IIE Prize, including information on all of the past winners, please visit www.iie.org/goldbergprize.
