• MARHABA - Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
    MARHABA - Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
  • Bahrain
    Bahrain
  • Jordanien Wadi Rum
    Jordanien Wadi Rum
  • Gebet unter freiem Himmel
    Gebet unter freiem Himmel
  • Bauboom am Golf
    Bauboom am Golf
  • Jemen
    Jemen
  • Tunesien-Revolution
    Tunesien-Revolution
  • Wüste
    Wüste
  • Israel/Palästina
    Israel/Palästina
  • Palmyra
    Palmyra
  • Maskat / Oman
    Maskat / Oman
  • Qubbat as-Sachra (Felsendom) und Kirche
    Qubbat as-Sachra (Felsendom) und Kirche
  • Altstadt von Kairo
    Altstadt von Kairo
  • Israelische Mauer
    Israelische Mauer
  • Pumpstation Jordanien
    Pumpstation Jordanien
  • MARHABA - Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
    MARHABA - Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
  • Hassan und Hussein Moscheen in Kairo
    Hassan und Hussein Moscheen in Kairo
  • Wiederaufbau im Irak
    Wiederaufbau im Irak
  • Algier Kasbah und Hafen - Barbara Schumacher
    Algier Kasbah und Hafen - Barbara Schumacher
  • SOS! Syrien stirbt! Internationale humanitäre Luftbrücken für Syrien!  - UNRWA
    SOS! Syrien stirbt! Internationale humanitäre Luftbrücken für Syrien! - UNRWA
  • SOS! Syrien stirbt! Internationale humanitäre Luftbrücken für Syrien! - Benjamin Hiller / zenith
    SOS! Syrien stirbt! Internationale humanitäre Luftbrücken für Syrien! - Benjamin Hiller / zenith
  • MARHABA -Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
    MARHABA -Migration-Arabien-Religionsübergreifend-Humanitär-Alternativ-Bildungsfördernd-Aktion
  • Algier Blick auf Kasbah und Hafen - Barbara Schumacher
    Algier Blick auf Kasbah und Hafen - Barbara Schumacher
  • Sudan Meroe Pyramiden - Barbara Schumacher
    Sudan Meroe Pyramiden - Barbara Schumacher
  • Marokko - Marrakech Abendstimmung - Barbara Schumacher
    Marokko - Marrakech Abendstimmung - Barbara Schumacher
  • Qatar Museum of Islamic Art Doha - Barbara Schumacher
    Qatar Museum of Islamic Art Doha - Barbara Schumacher
  • Qatar Doha Skyline - Barbara Schumacher
    Qatar Doha Skyline - Barbara Schumacher
03.03.2014

 

NAQBA

 

Opening Remarks by Hans-C. Graf Sponeck EU Parliament Strassburg 25 February 2014

 

Hans-C. Graf Sponeck

What is on display here is about the life of a people, a glimpse into the NAQBA of the Palestinian people.

Naqba, the Palestinian equivalent of the Jewish Shoa? Certainly not! If there is anything Naqba and Shoa share, it is the horrific suffering the two communities have had to endure.  European involvement in the politics of the Near East should always keep this in mind.

Let me be clear: This exhibition is not about political solutions nor about specific claims for territory; it is not about whether victims have the right to victimize. It is not about the immense richness of culture of the area in which Palestinians and Israelis live. While this is important to appreciate, it is not part of the exhibition. The exhibition has nothing to do with the current debate of the next steps in the Palestinian pursuit of statehood and  membership in the United Nations and other international organizations, important as these are.

It may surprise when I argue, however,  that this exhibition may  contribute to reconciliation between two peoples, peoples who have lived  side by side for millennia and   long before the Ottoman Empire.

Why “a contribution to reconciliation”? Because the provision of  credible information and knowledge   of what happened to the Palestinian people at the end of the 19th century and since  is  the objective of this exhibition. The  understanding of the Palestinian past  is thus a an important basis to argue for change and a pre-requisite  for reconciliation as well as  a  powerful ingredient for peace.

People have a right to information. Withholding information constitutes not only a violation of international law but intensifies division and conflict.

How dangerous the withholding of credible information can be for a people and for resolving a conflict, I have experienced first hand during 1998-2000 as the then UN Assistant Secretary General responsible for the humanitarian programme in Iraq. Lack of such credible information, and worse, the deliberate spreading of false information contributed  decisively to Iraqi suffering during the years of sanctions. It also laid the ground for eventually  justifying an illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The EU Parliament  in  search for truth had organized at the time hearings – I attended these - to correct serious and deliberate  distortions about the plight of the Iraqi people.  That ultimately neither the EU Parliament nor the UN Security Council succeeded in averting disaster, tragic as it was for the Iraqi people, does not lessen in any way the significance of this initiative.

Anyone who wants to see in this exhibition more than what it is: a glimpse into the painful history of a people, is a detractor with doubtful credentials.

We can be sure,  there will be those who are on stand-by to dismiss this exhibition as another expression of anti-semitism. The word that fits here is “nonsense”. I would say to them:”The majority of European civil society is no longer willing to accept ready-made but false accusations in order to protect un-defendable self-interests. I would add: Have the standing to come and see this exhibition and realize  that you have been wrong.” This would be the moment when healing can start.  “Do not judge anyone before you have walked a mile in his shoes!”, so an Arab saying goes.

We must salute here the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and  individual members like Ivo Vajgle and especially,  Alexandra Thein who has been instrumental in making the NAQBA exhibition in the EU Parliament possible. Yet again, MEPs have shown the leadership people  appreciate as an important contribution to constructive engagement. It should remind Europe of its responsibility to do what it takes in promoting the knowledge for peace.

The exhibition has been shown to-date in over 100 places in  Switzerland, Austria and Germany thanks to the relentless efforts by Frau Ingrid Rumpf, chairperson of the  organization “Flüchtlingskinder in Libanon”. Guenter Schenk and his colleagues of the “Collectif Jude-Arabe pour la Palestine”, based here in Strasbourg,  must be thanked for their commitment and  sense of justice  with which they have helped to set up the exhibition and this in friendly cooperation with the EU parliamentary administration.

In conclusion: I see the “Naqba” exhibition as an important, a very important initiative helpful in building the case for the Palestinians’ right to peace and the right for justice for all. The end to double-standards will be  the beginning for equal playing fields.

Maybe the time will come when Palestinians living in a sovereign state and Israelis living in a sovereign state will join hands in mounting a joint  Naqba & Shoa exhibition to prove that peace is possible after all and that the  human suffering of two communities can become a part of history.

H.C. Graf Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary General – Member of the Council of the Deutsch-Arabische Gesellschaft

Strasbourg, 25 February 2014

 

   

< Omans unentdeckter Süden