Promoting Enduring Peace awards Gandhi Peace Award in New Haven ceremony

Promoting Enduring Peace recently presented the 2011 Gandhi Peace Award to Rabbis Arik Ascherman and Ehud Bandel of Rabbis for Human Rights at Center Church on the Green as part of New Haven’s May Day celebration, according to a statement.

The rabbis received the 2011 Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace for nonviolent direct action to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories of Israel/Palestine, the statement said.

The award was conveyed at Center Church on the Green as part of New Haven’s annual May Day observance, the statement said.

The Gandhi Peace Award “honoring the world’s peace heroes” has been presented since 1960 for “contributions made in the promotion of international peace and good will" to peace heroes such as Eleanor Roosevelt, William Sloane Coffin, Benjamin Spock, Daniel Ellsberg, Dorothy Day, and César Chávez, all of whom accepted in person after presenting a message of challenge and hope, the statement said.

“This year’s award goes to Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), and Rabbi Ehud Bandel, co-founder, who exemplify the struggle for nonviolent ways of resolving the persecution of Palestinians in Israel, potentially the keystone for world peace in the new century,” said James van Pelt, secretary of PEP, also in the statement.

"Music by Lara Herskovitch, the Connecticut State Troubadour, opened the proceedings, followed by a welcome by the Rev. Dr. Sandra Olsen, senior minister of Center Church on the Green, and video clips, the statement said. Those interested in joining the RHR Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank November 6-17, 2011 were invited to apply to PEP for financial assistance, the statement said.

RHR’s website is at www.rhr-na.org. PEP’s website is at pepeace.org.

Promoting Enduring Peace was founded by Yale Divinity School Professor Jerome Davis in 1952, the statement said.

PEP publishes the daily international Peace News update feed peacenews.org.

In the photo, l to r, standing, Jeffry Larson (PEP treasurer), Rabbis Ehud Bandel and Arik Ascherman, James van Pelt (PEP secretary), Susan Yolen (PEP vice-president). Seated: Paul Hodel (PEP president).