Threat to Israeli peace activist condemned

Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award sent the following open letter to Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday March 26 at 8:30 pm. Uri and Rachel Avnery received the Right Livelihood Award in 2001 for their unwavering conviction - in the most difficult circumstances - that peace and an end to terrorism can only be achieved through justice and reconciliation'.

Honorable Prime Minister,

On 20 and 21 March 2006, Israeli media reported that Baruch Marzel, President of the Jewish National Front and candidate in the upcoming legislative elections, during a public election campaign meeting called for the targeted killing of peace activist, writer and former Member of Parliament Uri Avnery.

We consider such an act an outrageous, intolerable incident to take place in any country that calls itself a democracy. In addition our understanding is that the call for the murder of a person is also an illegal act in Israel. The call for the attack on the integrity of a person is always intolerable but the present case is all the more revolting considering that Uri Avnery is a nationally and
internationally well-known and respected personality that symbolises non-violent engagement for peace.

The public call for the assassination of Uri Avnery is a public call for the targeted killing of non-governmental peace efforts in the region and thus constitutes a highly political matter. This can neither be accepted nor brushed away as a detail.

We therefore call upon the Israeli government:
-to take all necessary steps to guarantee the safety and protection of Uri and Rachel Avnery;
-to order the State prosecutor to indict Baruch Marzel for incitement to murder;
-to play its role as the guarantor for democracy taking all appropriatemeasures in order to make sure that someone who calls for murder will not be allowed to become a Member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset).

The system of hate will not fade if justice is not brought to those that flagrantly violate the most basic human rights.

We trust that you will give this matter your urgent attention.

Yours sincerely,

Signed by the following laureates of the Right Livelihood Award:

Asghar Ali Engineer (India)
Samuel Epstein (USA)
Anwar Fazal (Malaysia)
Inge Genefke (Denmark)
Felicia Langer (Israel)
Birsel Lemke (Turkey)
Manfred Max-Neef (Chile)
Raul Montenegro (Argentina)
Mycle Schneider (France/Germany)
John F. Charlewood Turner (UK)
Theo van Boven (Netherlands)
Georges Vitoulkas (Greece)
Angie Zelter (UK)

and

Jakob von Uexkull, Founder and Chairman
for the Right Livelihood Award Foundation

contact:

Ole von Uexküll
Executive Director

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD FOUNDATION
PO Box 15072, 104 65 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 702 03 37, Fax: +46 8 55 11 00 38
ole @ rightlivelihood.org, www.rightlivelihood.org

Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Award is presented annually in the Swedish Parliament and is often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". Its aim is "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today".