Interviewed in 2004
Israeli Jewish Born in 1953 Lives in Tel Aviv Profession: Opera singer, actress, director, administrator Works at Peace Child Israel Interviewed by: Nahanni Rous
Through Peace Child Israel, Melisse Lewine-Boskovich uses theater and the arts as a tool to foster dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian teenagers throughout Israel and East Jerusalem. Using a group process of creating dramatic pieces, the teenagers engage in dialogue about the conflict and their experiences living in it. The theater pieces are performed in Arabic and Hebrew for students and the public. In the late 1960s and early 70s, Melisse was a member of the radical Jewish Defense League, founded by Meir Kahane. Through a process of change that she says included becoming a mother and beginning to dialogue with Palestinians, she came to believe in and work for coexistence.