Global Elders engage occupied Palestine

By Brian E. Muhammad | Last updated: Sep 10, 2009 - 1:00:17 PM

A delegation of former world leaders recently embarked on a peace mission to occupied Palestine to “listen” and assess the prospects for ending 60 years of conflict between the Palestinian people and Israel.

‘The lesson that Israel must learn from the Holocaust is that it can never get security through fences, walls and guns.’
—Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The delegation, led by former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, included former Presidents Jimmy Carter of the United States and Mary Robinson of Ireland; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu; former Norway Prime Minister Gro Brundtland; activist for grassroots women's entrepreneurship Ela Bhatt; philanthropist Jeff Skoll and business mogul Richard Branson.

For three days the group met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres and heard from various Palestinian and Jewish groups in Jerusalem, Ramallah and from Gaza-via webcast. The mission, which started Aug. 24, was designed to “keep the focus on the people.”

A statement by President Cardoso said “peace is possible” and the Elders fully support revived negotiations in the region.

“We are very supportive of current efforts to reopen negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians—and hope very much that this will happen,” Mr. Cardoso said.

Press statements issued by the Elders said a concern for the group is the continued deterioration of conditions in the Gaza. The group has called for an end to the blockade and support for new effort towards negotiation, but is not involved in any talks.

However, to some members of the group, the lack of direct engagement shouldn't mean silence about the injustices Palestinians suffer because of the Israeli occupation. In an Aug. 28 interview with Haaretz newspaper, Archbishop Tutu minced few words when describing Jewish hindrances to the peace process.

He compared the fences, walls and violent treatment of the Palestinians to the experience of the Jews during the Holocaust.

Archbishop Tutu told Haaretz, “The lesson that Israel must learn from the Holocaust is that it can never get security through fences, walls and guns.”

Further, the Noble laureate said the innocent “Arab” and “Palestinian” is paying the price for Jewish grievances towards western nations who looked the other way during the Holocaust.

“But who pays the penance?” he asked. “The penance is being paid by the Arabs, by the Palestinians. I once met a German ambassador who said Germany is guilty of two wrongs. One was what they did to the Jews; and now the suffering of the Palestinians.”

According to a report from the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1.5 million Palestinians are being denied their basic rights to freedom of movement, proper living conditions, jobs, health services and education.

Israeli occupied forces have continued to enforce a lock down of Palestinian territory and impose severe restrictions on the movements of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

The report said all border crossings to the Gaza Strip were closed for more than two years, negatively impacting humanitarian and economic conditions—like blocking raw construction materials and fuel supplies, except limited amounts of cooking gas.

President Carter, who authored the book “Peace not Apartheid” that deals with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, challenged leaders to heed the voices of ordinary Palestinians and Israelis.

Some critics questioned the Elders' credibility and raised concerns about some individual records on Israel. Mary Robinson, the former leader of Ireland, disagreed. “In all of our meetings everyone can see that we want to further the purposes of peace,” she said.

“We want to probe a little bit, push a little bit to try to see if we can help in a nonpolitical way,” Ms. Robinson added. “We're not involved in negotiations, but we ask the right questions in the right quarters.”

The Elders group is an initiative conceived by millionaire Richard Branson and musician Peter Gabriel of Genesis fame, to address current world problems such as war, poverty, hunger and oppression.

The group consists of former world leaders committed to lending their stature, experience and wisdom to help resolve some of these issues. The Elders was established using the model of different societies, “where elders are looked to for help, to share wisdom and resolve disputes within communities,” according to the group's Web site.

The Elders also include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; former Mozambique first lady Graca Machel; trade unionist Ela Bhatt; former Algerian Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi; and honorary members, Nelson Mandela and Burmese political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I think The Elders can play the role of amplifying the voices of the millions of citizens of the world who daily are working very hard to make themselves heard,” said Mrs. Machel.

(For more information, visit www.theelders.org.)

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