A major and sometimes controversial figure in the Israeli peace-making world has arrived in London.
Ron Kronish, Director of the Israeli Inter-Religious Co-ordinating Committee for Israel, is visiting St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation before receiving the ICCJ Interfaith Gold Medallion “Peace Through Dialogue” Award at the 2008 Conference of the International Council of Christians and Jews in Jerusalem.
Past recipients of the Interfaith Gold Medallion include HM Queen Elizabeth the Second, Federal German President Dr Johannes Rau, and Bishop Krister Stendahl among other notable world leaders who have worked to promote understanding and peaceful relations between people of different faiths.
Dr Ron Kronish is the director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), which he founded in January 1991 and is now Israel’s most highly regarded interreligious organization.
The vision of Dr Kronish and the mission of ICCI is to harness the teachings and values of the three Abrahamic faiths and transform religion’s role from a force of division and extremism into a source of reconciliation, coexistence, and understanding.
ICCI works with religious leaders, women, educators, and youth to promote Jewish-Arab coexistence and peace-building projects in Israel.
ICCI is also an umbrella organization comprised of 75 Christian, Muslim, and Jewish institutions and serves as the Israel chapter of Religions for Peace (WCRP) and as a member of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ).
Dr Kronish will receive the award of “Peace Through Dialogue” at the 2008 ICCJ Conference which will focus on the contribution of Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue to peace building in the Middle East.
Over 150 people plan to attend the conference from Australia, North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The conference will include site-visits to local institutions that promote interreligious and intercultural relations between Israelis and Palestinians as well as text study, workshops, and panel discussions relating to contemporary issues in the fields of coexistence, peace-building, and Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations.