The UJA-Federation of New York has donated $1 million to the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development (AJEEC-NISPED) to build a center for Jewish-Arab Israeli partnership. It will be named after Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri, a community she had helped build. 

In 2000, Silver, an activist for women’s rights and Arab-Israeli peace through organizations like the New Israel Fund and Women Wage Peace, co-founded AJEEC-NISPED with Amal Elsana-Alh-jooj, an Arab Israeli peace activist. Now the largest shared society organization in Israel, AJEEC-NISPED has followed a co-CEO model: one Jew, one Arab. 

Ilan Amit, the organization’s current Jewish co-CEO, was hired by Silver some 17 years ago as a program coordinator. According to Amit, for the first three weeks after Oct. 7, 2023, the team thought Silver was kidnapped alive. When it became clear she had been killed that day, they began to focus on preserving her memory. In January 2024, they started planning the center.   

“She’s alive and kicking in our daily work,” Amit said. “There’s a huge picture of her on the wall at the entrance to the office. And every morning each one of us gets into the office and nods and smiles towards her, towards her picture. And it’s just a huge duty that we care to continue her vision, to continue the work, to promote an Arab and Jewish shared society in the hardest of times in the middle of the biggest war that this country has ever known, in the middle of the biggest rift that ever existed between Israelis and Palestinians.” 

UJA-Federation of New York’s $1 million donation will support the Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society, which will be part of the larger “AJEEC-NISPED House,” the organization’s soon-to-open headquarters. The 48,000-square-foot project will cost $12 million, $8 million for the “purchase phase” and $4 million for renovations, Amit told eJP, some $5 million of which has already been raised. The Meyerhoff Foundation and the Gilbert Foundation have also supported the project. 

Located in Beerheva’s Science Park, in walking distance of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the building will act as AJEEC-NISPED’s headquarters, and will eventually hold classrooms, training spaces, a shared society hub and auditorium for Arab-Jewish cultural events, Amit said. The Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society is expected to open next year and will support thousands of young adults each year, equipping them with mentors, career skills and avenues to collaborate across cultures.

According to Amit, Silver’s approach to the relationship between Israeli Arabs and Jews formed AJEEC-NISPED’s approach and continues to influence the organization. “Vivian was a very persistent, very stubborn person. Vivian’s views on shared society, on the ongoing tension between the Gaza envelope and Gaza, are something that she left unhidden… and she was very stubborn in pursuing peace, in our Jewish partnership between the Gaza envelope and Gaza, but in general, between Arabs and Jews all over all over Israel.” 

New York’s federation has long supported shared society initiatives, including funds for the Abraham Fund and Mosaica in their emergency allocations in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7. Eric Goldstein, the federation’s CEO, said the organization’s long-standing mission to promote a shared society in Israel aligns with the legacy of peace advocate Vivian Silver, noting that the center’s founding sends a “powerful message of hope and resilience.” 

“We’re proud to support AJEEC-NISPED in advancing Vivian’s vision — building bridges, fostering equality, and creating opportunities for partnership that strengthen Israel’s social fabric,” said Goldstein.