The Mount Zion Award 2009 goes to Dr. Nedal Rashed Jayousi and Daniel Rossing
On Sunday October 25, 2009, the Mount Zion Award was made for the eleventh time in the Basilica of the Dormition in Jerusalem. The recipients were Dr. Nedal Rashed Jayousi and Daniel Rossing.
The Abbot presents the Mount Zion Award to Dr. Nedal Rashed Jayousi.
Dr. Nedal Rashed Jayousi is founder and chairman of the Palestinian House for Professionals Solutions (HPS), a leading non-governmental organization that develops and implements, with Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians, various conflict resolution strategies, which dissolve stereotypes, increase mutual understanding and promote dialogue. Dr. Nedal Jayousi is a professor of education and also a leading expert in peace education and development of appropriate curricula. He worked for 23 years with major Palestinian and international educational institutions in the public and private sectors.
In addition to his work in the HPS, Dr. Jayousi worked for several leading international organizations as a consultant , including several agencies of the United Nations, the World Bank, GTZ, InWEnt and USAID. He was managing director of the Palestinian Domestic Monitoring Committee on Elections, which provided for the first Palestinian elections more than 1,500 domestic election observers.
He is a member of the Steering Committee of Amnesty International Fund for Reconciliation.
Daniel Rossing
Daniel Rossing was from 1975 to 1988 head of the division of Christian communities in the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs and, as such, the link between the government and the Christian communities in Israel with its many organizations. For eight years he was director of the Melitz Center for Christian Encounter with Israel and for a short time head of the Christian communities of Jerusalem Foundation Desk. He is currently Managing Director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations (JCJCR), founded by him in 2003 with the aim of fighting ignorance and prejudice and promoting understanding and empathy between the Jewish majority and the Christian groups in the Holy Land.
He is a board member of the interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), teaches at the Ecumenical Institute at Tantur and at several other institutions, has published numerous articles on interfaith cooperation and is a frequent speaker on these issues at home and abroad.