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On March 10, at 9:00 p.m., the online meeting “Saving Children, Medicine at the Service of Peace: Past, Present, Future” was held, organized by the Friends of the Peres Center Committee of Turin and the local group of Left for Israel, Two Peoples and Two States. The initiative was supported by the Jewish Community of Turin, the Jewish Studies Group, and the Cittàttiva Astigiano Albese branch of Cisterna d’Asti. Speakers included Ludovica De Benedetti, coordinator of Left for Israel Turin and Piedmont, the author of the Friends of the Peres Center Committee, and Mercedes Bresso, former President of the Piedmont Region and MEP.
Joining the panel from Israel were Manuela Dviri, journalist, writer, and activist; Zsvia Peres Walden, psycholinguist and university professor, daughter of Shimon Peres (like Manuela, a member of the Peres Center board); and Rachel Hadari, head of the Department of Medicine. Journalist Ada Treves hosted the meeting, also serving as excellent translator.
The “Medicine at the Service of Peace” project was born out of initiatives by the Peres Center in Tel Aviv, which since its founding in 1996 has implemented collaborative programs between Israelis and Palestinians, with the aim of building bridges between the two peoples by fostering mutual understanding and helping the most disadvantaged. During the meeting, the methods of the Peres Center’s Medicine project were illustrated, discussing the project’s past, present, and possible future.
The “Medicine at the Service of Peace” project aimed to contribute to the construction of an autonomous Palestinian healthcare system by training medical personnel in Israeli hospitals, who, after an initial internship, typically obtain the resources to complete the program themselves. This creates bonds and builds professional relationships between healthcare workers from both populations, based on the healthcare solutions to be offered, designed to last over time. Doctors’ job is to cure: “A doctor is a doctor,” Dr. Hadari explained to us. Approximately 300 Palestinian doctors have been trained through the project thanks to the work of the Peres Center department and funding from the European Union, countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and especially Denmark, until 2023.
Better known here in Italy is the other cornerstone of the project: the Saving Children, Medicine at the Service of Peace program, promoted in Turin by the “Friends of the Peres Center Committee,” which was already the subject of a presentation with the Community in June 2021.
Initially, in 2003, the Tuscany region promoted the program with an agreement between President Martini, Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian pediatricians’ association. This agreement provided for treatment in Israeli hospitals, which offered a 40% discount on the total cost for a significant number of children. Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, and other regions followed suit. In Piedmont, President Mercedes Bresso chose to support the Committee with a significant contribution for the duration of her mandate. It was an intuition whose opportunity became apparent over time, when regional funding began to dry up and vice versa, through the Committee, it was possible to continue supporting the project with the support of other organizations and private individuals. Over 20 years, the Turin Committee has sent one million euros to the Peres Center, helping to treat 130 children. Overall, with the funds raised for the Saving Children project, the Peres Center has implemented life-saving interventions for 12,500 children. The possibility of continuing depends on financial availability; Zsvia Peres Walden and Manuela Dviri are particularly committed to fundraising and promoting the Project.
After the brutal pogrom of October 7th and the tragic war in Gaza, the activity suffered a setback, only to resume with collaborative exchanges with the West Bank. Approximately 50 children were treated during 2024 and 2025. Six of these were funded by the Turin Committee and a donation from the Giacometta Limentani and Walter Cantatore Foundation, whose president is Tobia Zevi. During the meeting, it was learned that ten doctors are currently completing their training thanks to a fund from Switzerland.
What future? It’s difficult to predict. Perhaps the project needs to be rethought based on the new situation and available resources. But it has never stopped and continues to save lives, and, if the resources are available, functioning channels of collaboration still exist.
The event participants (106 of them) asked questions primarily of a practical and operational nature. It became clear that it is always possible, even during conflicts, to think and work towards the aftermath and for peace. The existence of the Turin Committee is a good point of reference and support, both for the Peres Center and for supporting the project here.
The meeting ended when the first alarm was heard from Tel Aviv, preceding the final one…
The next morning, a friend of the Community sent us a hot tip that perfectly captures the mood of those who attended the meeting: “Very interesting. And very good at not making it political! Yesterday, however, you focused on Saving Children, talking about the war as a fact, without passing judgment on the governments of Israel, the USA, and the Middle East in general…”
The Committee is chaired by Carlo Baffert, and Tullio Levi also served on our board for a too-brief period.
by Maria Ludovica Chiambretto
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