Bahraini intellectuals seek withdrawal of Peres's Nobel Prize

Manama: A group of Bahraini intellectuals is demanding that the Nobel Prize awarded to former Israeli president Shimon Peres be withdrawn on the grounds that he is a "warmonger".
"The Nobel Prize for Peace is an honour for those who are really keen on achieving and promoting peace in the world and those who receive it should spare no effort to ensure that diplomacy and the values of peace always prevail, no matter how difficult the situation is. Unfortunately, in the case of Shimon Peres, we see a warmonger, not a peace promoter," said Ali Al Sitrawi, from the Bahrain Writers Society, the group calling for the revocation of the international prize.

Shimon Peres, who was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Price alongside Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians", has defended Israel's attacks on Gaza that have resulted in the death of more than 900 people as part of a "real and serious lesson to Hamas".

However, Bahrain's intellectuals believe that Peres needs to be given from the international community a lesson in achieving and promoting peace.

"We are sure that our efforts will receive a lot of support in Bahrain, our first station, and elsewhere. We will send the petition to other countries for more signatures so that we can prove to the world that people want peace and support only those who care about spreading peaceful ways of living, not destruction and massacres of children and women," Al Sitrawi, a poet, told Gulf News.

The petition, to be launched this week, is the latest manifestation of public support by Bahraini nationals and expatriates to the Palestinians in Gaza.

On Sunday, the Bahrain Chamber for Commerce and Industry donated $100,000 as it launched a national fund-raising campaign two days after a telethon organised by Bahrain Television raised $3.9 million. An ad-hoc committee under the umbrella of the Royal Charity Foundation has been in charge of handing over all proceeds to competent authorities in Gaza.

Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa, who last week called for an enlarged Arab-Islamic summit, pledged $3 million to rebuild the Fakhoora school, the establishment run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and bombed by the Israelis.

Two Bahraini doctors were on Sunday allowed to take two ambulances purchased by the Bahrain Medical Society into Gaza after a five-day wait at the Rafah border crossing. According to the society, 30 more Bahraini doctors are ready to travel to Gaza to provide services.


An international petition was launched last week in Canada to revoke Shimon Peres's 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

Text of the petition:

"For the attention of The Nobel Foundation

We strongly demand The Nobel Foundation to consider the removal and stripping of 1994 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Shimon Peres, the current Israeli head of state.

As a peace loving people of world, who oppose the GAZA Genocide and consider your Foundation the beacon of peace, demand a reconsideration of this award.

It is astonishing that an individual who is in breach of international law, indeed a war criminal, should be given this award, especially in so-called "recognition of the efforts of Mr. Peres to find a peaceful solution to conflicts in the Middle East" which is clearly not the case, as can be gleaned from the following:

1) Supported and urged Israeli killing machine (IDF) to massacre Palestinian civilians in GAZA during the latest ongoing war on the people of Gaza (Reference news reports Jan, 6, 2009. Israeli army shelling, UN School killing 45 women, children and men)

2) On 18 April 1996, he launched "Operation Grapes of Wrath" causing 400,000 Lebanese to flee their homes, almost 800 fleeing to a UN base in Qana, South Lebanon.

3) The Israeli army shelled the UN shelter in Qana, killing 102 civilians, mainly women, children and the elderly. Many more were injured.

4) Peres is responsible for building illegal colonies on occupied land and endorsing a policy of extra-judicial killings of Palestinians and other Arabs.

5) He supported the siege on Gaza, the destruction of its airport, and the elaborate system of checkpoints all across the West Bank.

6) He defends the regular demolition of Palestinian homes, and he justified the atrocities of the Israeli army in its recent war on Lebanon in 2006.

We the undersigned call on The Noble Foundation to revoke this honorary award with immediate effect."

Second petition

A second petition asking Shimon Peres to "act consistently as a beholder of the Nobel Prize for Peace, in relation with the strike in the Gaza's strip" is also being circulated on the internet. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/shimon-peres-should-act-now-or-resign-the-nobel-prize.html