Archbishop Desmond Tutu was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement in his native South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, and has used his platform to campaign on a number of global human rights issues, including the spread of HIV/Aids, homophobia, racism and various world conflicts.
Over the years, he has often voiced his support for the people of Palestine, likening their situation to that of black South Africans under apartheid. After a visit to Jerusalem in 1989, he said that he was a "black South African, and if I were to change the names, a description of what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank could describe events in South Africa." He reiterated this sentiment in 2002, when he spoke out against "the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about." Accordingly, he has long been a supporter of the campaign for divestment from Israel.
Now, after the latest round of violence in Gaza, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, he has spoken out again. This time, he makes his case through the unusual medium of an Israeli newspaper, the left-of-centre Haaretz. Under the headline, "My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine", Tutu sets out the comparison with South Africa, the need for open-mindedness from both sides to facilitate dialogue, and his support for economic divestment from Israel.
"Violence begets violence and hatred, that only begets more violence and hatred," he writes. "We South Africans know about violence and hatred. We understand the pain of being the polecat of the world; when it seems nobody understands or is even willing to listen to our perspective. It is where we come from. We also know the benefits that dialogue between our leaders eventually brought us; when organizations labelled 'terrorist' were unbanned and their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were released from imprisonment, banishment and exile. We know that when our leaders began to speak to each other, the rationale for the violence that had wracked our society dissipated and disappeared. Acts of terrorism perpetrated after the talks began – such as attacks on a church and a pub – were almost universally condemned, and the party held responsible snubbed at the ballot box." Full story...
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Over the years, he has often voiced his support for the people of Palestine, likening their situation to that of black South Africans under apartheid. After a visit to Jerusalem in 1989, he said that he was a "black South African, and if I were to change the names, a description of what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank could describe events in South Africa." He reiterated this sentiment in 2002, when he spoke out against "the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about." Accordingly, he has long been a supporter of the campaign for divestment from Israel.
Now, after the latest round of violence in Gaza, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, he has spoken out again. This time, he makes his case through the unusual medium of an Israeli newspaper, the left-of-centre Haaretz. Under the headline, "My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine", Tutu sets out the comparison with South Africa, the need for open-mindedness from both sides to facilitate dialogue, and his support for economic divestment from Israel.
"Violence begets violence and hatred, that only begets more violence and hatred," he writes. "We South Africans know about violence and hatred. We understand the pain of being the polecat of the world; when it seems nobody understands or is even willing to listen to our perspective. It is where we come from. We also know the benefits that dialogue between our leaders eventually brought us; when organizations labelled 'terrorist' were unbanned and their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were released from imprisonment, banishment and exile. We know that when our leaders began to speak to each other, the rationale for the violence that had wracked our society dissipated and disappeared. Acts of terrorism perpetrated after the talks began – such as attacks on a church and a pub – were almost universally condemned, and the party held responsible snubbed at the ballot box." Full story...
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