Jimmy Carter Was Busy
Not to pre-judge this appointment, but the African National Congress has always been close to the PLO:
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has been named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where 19 civilians were killed by an Israeli artillery barrage earlier this month, UN officials said Wednesday.
The South African anti-apartheid campaigner and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will travel to Gaza to “assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults,” according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba.
Let’s hope Mr. Tutu includes such recommendations as the Palestinians’ holding their fire on Israeli towns, or, at the very least, refraining from firing from populated areas.
But Tutu’s view of the region is not a hopeful indicator:
“No matter how powerful one side is, there will never be true security. That’s what we learned in South Africa. You will never get true security from the barrel of a gun. As long as we are able to humiliate, subdue and bully the other side, so long will we remain without security.”
Gosh, Desmond, whom are you speaking of?