Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu said on Thursday he is ”honoured” that the United Nations have asked him to lead a fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where 19 civilians were killed by an Israeli artillery barrage earlier this month.
The mission is meant to address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways and means to shield civilians from military assault.
”I hope that our mission will advance the cause of peace and stability for Palestinian and Israelis alike, and contribute [in] halting the awful carnage and bloodletting,” the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape town said in a statement.
”I believe fervently that it is possible for Arab and Jew to live amicably together.”
Tutu’s mission is expected to report his findings to the UN Human Rights Council by mid-December.
The killing of the Palestinians, which Israel said was unintended, came after Israeli troops wound up a week-long incursion meant to curb rocket attacks on Israel from Beit Hanoun, which the Israeli army said was a rocket-launching stronghold.
The South African anti-apartheid campaigner has frequently spoken out against the violence in the Middle East and Iraq. He maintains that South Africa’s experience in passing peacefully from white racist rule to multi-racial democracy should serve as an example to the rest of the world in conflict resolution.
Tutu (75) chaired South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was intended to expose the full horrors of apartheid and help the country heal the wounds of its violent past. — Sapa-AP