BECAUSE I SEEK PEACE
In the field of
humanitarian assistance the needs are growing both in quantity and
diversity. Everything has to be done at once. Human nature and ingenuity
have the capacity to cope. Instead of blaming God, or the Devil, the rain or
drought, fate or even the victims themselves for the supposed natural
catastrophies, those who do possess decision-making powers would do well to
invest in human well-being what they waste in order to ensure a security
that is illusory. That may seem simplistic but the facts prove it. In all
types of conflict the protagonists usually pretend that the other side is to
blame, and spread the notion that the victims are not the victims at all but
that the real victims are the, often faceless, executioners. This outrageous
practice is well known in the Near East and there is no end to it. It
happens in the West too and causes fear. The whole world is involved and
no-one can escape it. The entire world, individuals and societies, must
reflect and react.
The General Assembly of Swiss Care for the
Palestinians (SCP) had already, in 2003, opened the debate on what its
mission and its priorities should be today. The choice of the country is in
no way partisan. In that land, the heritage of humanity, a murderous
conflict is spreading dangerously and will not come to an end until we get
out of the vicious circle of terrorism and anti-terrorism. The ever-growing
drama of the very survival of the Palestinians on their own land calls for
maximum support from civil society in every community, whatever their
socio-cultural leanings may be. It is also in the interests of Israel.
Respect for oneself necessarily provokes the respect of others and disarms
the bitterest of enemies.
It is on that land that world peace can be
restored. A tiny lamp has been lit there which we hope will light up world
consciousness. It comes from an Israeli personality, a friend of SCP, Ms.
Nurit PELED-ELHANAN whose thirteen year-old daughter was killed in a
Palestinian suicide attack in Jerusalem. ‘’For me’’, she said, ‘’the
struggle is not between Palestinians and Israelis, nor between Jews and
Arabs. It is between those who seek peace and those who seek war.’’
Peace with oneself invariably comes before peace with others and this
applies to everyone, whether their birth or other circumstances have placed
them on one side or another,
Several hundred families, both Israeli and
Palestinian, who share this conviction, have been meeting for some years now
in the Circle for bereaved parents. What we are now proposing is the
creation, in Geneva, of an antenna of the Circle for parents who have lost
children in the Middle East conflict in order to make it better known, to
gain support for its projects and, with its authorization, to take certain
initiatives in Geneva, the world centre for human rights and humanitarian
assistance.
I SUPPORT THIS PROJECT
