Press Release No.2001-139

UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL SAYS THE PURSUIT OF PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS AN IMPERATIVE NOT AN OPTION

Paris, December 14 - The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, expressed his concern at the worsening of the situation in the Middle East at last night's ceremony to award the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2001 to the two winners, Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng (Uganda) and the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva (Israel).
 

During the ceremony, which took place at UNESCO Headquarters, Mr Matsuura said he was worried about the escalating situation in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: "Today's prize-giving is occurring at a time of growing difficulties and tensions in the Middle East. This cycle of mounting violence has already claimed the lives of many civilians, Palestinians as well as Israelis. As a result, the foundations of mutual trust and understanding are crumbling before our eyes, reducing the efforts of peace-makers to nothing."
 

The Director-General said: "In these circumstances, the pursuit of peace is an imperative, not merely an option. I call upon all the parties involved to step back from the brink and to control the impulses towards violence, revenge and retribution. More than ever, dialogue is necessary. Our collective hopes for peace point in a clear direction: towards a situation where Israel and Palestine, as two sovereign states, can live alongside each other in dignity and security."
 

Mr Matsuura added: "I would like to take this opportunity to repeat my utter condemnation of all acts of terrorism, such as those we have witnessed in Israel as recently as yesterday. Attacks on innocent civilians have no justification; indeed, they bring only the deepest dishonour to those who plan and perpetrate these crimes. Of one thing we can be sure: the path of terrorism is not the path towards peace. The aim of terrorism is to foster divisions and conflicts between peoples, cultures, religions and civilisations worldwide. For the sake of peace, we cannot allow terrorism to succeed. Reason and dialogue must prevail."
 

First awarded 20 years ago, the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education aims to promote actions that focus public awareness and mobilise consciences in favour of peace. The Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva was established in 1963 and is the oldest peace education institution in Israel. Its main aims are to foster closer relations between Jews and Arabs and to promote partnership and permanent dialogue between the two communities.

Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng, born in 1945, is the originator of numerous initiatives for peace and for fighting poverty. Among other achievements, in 1997 he started the "Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiatives" (ARLPI), an inter-faith forum for peace.

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