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The civil movement "Combatants For Peace," founded by former IDF soldiers and Palestinian combatants, has been officially declared the winner of the Anna Lindh Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures 2009.
The award is voted on by the members of the Anna Lindh Foundation's networks of civil society organizations in 43 countries, and this year recognized the contribution of organizations and individuals in promoting a culture of peace and coexistence in the Euro-Mediterranean Region, according to a foundation statement.
Members of the foundation's region-wide network, totaling over 2,800 civil society organizations, participated in electing Combatants for Peace as this year's winner.
In 2005 a group of 12 Israeli soldiers who refused to serve in the territories met with four former Palestinian gunmen, mostly from the Fatah movement, who years earlier were trying to kill one another. In the meeting, both sides expressed the desire to take responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lead their societies out of the vicious cycle of violence through dialogue and mutual understanding. After a series of meetings, the group came together to form Combatants for Peace on Pessah of 2006.
The outbreak of the second intifada raised questions for founding member and former General Staff Reconnaissance Unit soldier Avner Wishnitzer, who felt he was not getting the whole story from the Israeli media. Out of curiosity, he volunteered with the Israeli peace group Tayush and found himself on the other side for the first time.
"We went to bring blankets to...