The letter's 135 signatories include the former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Dalai Lama, and eight Nobel peace laureates, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, and Desmond Tutu.
London (AsiaNews) – "Urgent international action" is needed to bring peace to the Middle East through a new international conference, recognition of Israel and an end to the occupation of Palestine. More than 135 ex-world leaders, foreign affairs ministers, diplomats and religious leaders made this call in an open letter published today in the Financial Times.
Organised by the International Crisis Group (ICG), the letter launches an appeal signed by, among others: former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Dalai Lama, former Indian prime minister I K Gujral, former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, former US secretary of defence Robert McNamara, and by eight Nobel peace laureates, including the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, former American president, Jimmy Carter, and the South African Anglican Archbishop, Reverend Desmond Tutu.
The letter read: "Everyone has lost in this conflict except the extremists throughout the world who prosper on the rage that it continues to provoke. Every passing day undermines prospects for a peaceful, enduring solutionÂ… As long as the conflict lasts, it will generate instability and violence in the region and beyond."
To emerge from this situation, "the goal must be security and full recognition to the state of Israel within international recognised borders, an end to the occupation for the Palestinian people in a viable independent, sovereign state, and the return to Syria of land lost" in war.
The letter calls for a "new international conference, ideally held as soon as possible attended by all relevant players, at which all the elements of a comprehensive peace agreement would be mapped, and momentum gathered for detailed negotiations."