Nurit Peled-Elhanan – 2001, Israel

In 1997, her 13-year-old daughter Smadar was killed in a suicide attack carried out by a Palestinian in West Jerusalem.
ʻMy little girl was killed just because she was an Israeli by a young man who was oppressed and exasperated to the point of suicide and murder just because he was a Palestinian. Both are victims of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Now their blood is mixed on the stones of Jerusalem that have always been indifferent to bloodʼ, Peled said when her daughter died. She did not allow anyone from the Israeli authorities, including the prime minister, to attend the funeral.
Herself the daughter of the famous Israeli general Matti Peled, renowned for his pacifist and progressive campaigning, Nurit Peled (born in 1949) has become a symbol of those in Israel who fight against the occupation and for the freedom of Palestine.
She is also very committed to changing the mentality of Israeli society, in particular the young generation. One of her publications, entitled Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, she draws attention to an apparent trend in Israeli schools towards racism rather than tolerance and diversity. She has been strong in her criticism of world leaders including George Bush, Tony Blair and Ariel Sharon for 'infecting their respective citizens with blind fear of the Muslimsʼ.
Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a co-initiator of the Russell tribunal, an international peopleʼs tribunal established in 2009 to examine the role and complicity of third parties in the violations of international law committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
She is committed to defending the rights of Palestinians and urges support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaign against Israel until such time as it complies with international law and respects Palestinian rights.
Peled is particularly vocal in her defence of Palestinian children and their right to education and has advocated strongly on their behalf at Sakharov Prize network events and in meetings with the European Ϸվ, including in Jerusalem. In the aftermath of the 2014 Gaza War, Peled, in a passionate and emotional speech at a Human Rights Subcommittee hearing on the situation of children in armed conflicts, held Israel responsible for the situation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Together with fellow Sakharov laureates Salima Ghezali and Taslima Nasreen, Peled has also published an opinion calling on ʻleaders and representatives of the EU to actively and openly encourage the Palestinian Authority to join the ICCʼ.