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Abstract or Description

In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.

Galia Golan of Israel knows well the subjects of Israeli-Palestinian politics. She is a professor emerita who lectures internationally and is a recognized expert in international affairs and foreign policy. That Golan is also a grassroots activist with several decades of experience focused on advancing women’s roles in peacebuilding and a key strategist in parliamentary activism, speaks volumes about her considerable and multilayered contributions to peace and justice in Israel.

Golan has been an instrumental figure in leading the Israeli peace movement, beginning with her role as a founder and leader of Peace Now, Israel’s prominent mass peace movement. She was an organizer of the unprecedented demonstration of 400,000 Israelis during the war with Lebanon, and the movement's representative on stage at the fateful peace rally at which former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995.

Golan co-founded and led two joint Israeli-Palestinian women’s peace organizations: the Jerusalem Link (Bat Shalom) and the International Women’s Commission for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-Israeli Peace. She was also a founding member and deputy chair of the Israel Women’s Network, a feminist lobby group that played a critical role in advancing women’s rights in Israel over the last quarter of a century. She has been in the leadership of the Meretz (social democratic) Party since its inception. As a colleague of hers observed, “She has been a role model for many of the young people, especially women, in the peace movement.”

Golan has become deeply convinced that joint Israeli-Palestinian activity is the key to resolution of the long-standing conflict. She is active in the leadership of the joint Israeli and Palestinian Forum of Peace NGOs, and the more recent Palestinian/Israeli peace movement Combatants for Peace, which consists of former combatants working together in grassroots groups and public activities.

As the first woman political scientist in Israel, Golan has bridged the worlds of academia and activism. Currently a sought-after advisor, she is a member of the board of the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Studies, and she founded both Israel’s first women’s studies program and the first master’s program in conflict resolution (in English) in Israel. Now retired, she is the academic advisor for a new international master’s program in conflict resolution to be held at the Arab-Jewish village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam (Oasis of Peace) in Israel (under the auspices of the University of Massachusetts) with Arab, Jewish and international faculty and students.

Publication Date

2015

Document Type

Report

Keywords

Israel, peacebuilding, Women PeaceMakers

Disciplines

Peace and Conflict Studies

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a CC BY License.

There is Another Way: The Life of Galia Golan of Israel

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