The Mount Zion Award, given each year at the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem to a Jew and an Arab who have helped promote peace in the region, is also a symbol of reconciliation and respect by the Catholic church towards other religions.
by Simon Griver
The Mount Zion Award for reconciliation was founded in 1987 by the late Wilhelm Salberg, who was the Latin Chaplain of Essen, Germany. The award is given biannually, traditionally on October 29th, the day in 1965 when the Vatican Council published the text Nostra Aetate, in which the Catholic Church adopted a new attitude towards Judaism, Islam and other religions.
The 1999 winners of the award, like all previous recipients of the prize, were residents of Israel or the Palestinian territories. Shmuel Toledano, born in Tiberias in 1924 is a member of a famous rabbinic family. As a major in army intelligence, he tracked down Nazi war criminals and helped in the clandestine operation of "illegal" immigration of Jews to Palestine. In the 1970s, Toledano was appointed senior government advisor on Arab affairs, and was elected member of the Knesset (Parliament) (1977-1981). Throughout the 1980s, Toledano promoted informal peace talks with Arab leaders, and formulated a peace plan which helped lay the foundations for the agreements of the 1990s.
Assad Araidy is a Druze who was born and raised in the Galilee village of Maghar, where he has been head of the local council since 1993. A graduate of both Bar Ilan University and Haifa University, Araidy served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces and then chose to become an educator. He taught in schools throughout northern Israel and served as principal of a school in the Golan, before becoming head of Israel's Druze school system at the Ministry of Education. Araidy received the Mount Zion Award for his endeavors in working for peace between communities of different faiths.
The award was presented in the Church of the Dormition. Located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Christians believe that this was where Mary fell into an eternal sleep after the crucifixion. The church was completed in 1910 by the German Benedictines. With its distinctive black cone roof, the church has excellent acoustics, and is a popular venue for classical concerts.
In keeping with tradition, the most recent recipients of the Mount Zion Award gave the congratulatory speeches to the new prize winners. Dalia Landau, a Jerusalem-based peace activist paid tribute to Assad Araidy's life work, while Palestinian University Professor Sumaya Farhat-Naser spoke in honor of Shmuel Toledano.
Father Bernhardt of the Dormition Abbey recounted that the 1999 ceremony was especially moving, with Professor Farhat-Naser explaining that she had initially been reluctant to make the award to Mr. Toledano.
"But now I have met you face to face I can see that you are genuinely working for a just peace," she said.
Dalia Landau then apologized to Professor Farhat-Naser for refusing to grant her the award two years ago. "I thought you still hated us," she recalled. "But now I realize that you too are committed to peace."