The blood on the Nobel Peace Prize

BY: Kemal Öztürk*

The Jewish settlements project, which is one of the major reasons the Israel-Palestine problem has not been resolved, is one of his works.

Because of the politics of hawks like him, exiled Palestinians still live in concentration-camp-like places.

The prince of terrifying weapons

While visiting the Sabra, Shatila and Bourj el-Barajneh camps in Lebanon last year, I saw the agony in the faces of the Palestinians who were exiled from their land in the 1960s and were now stateless, futureless and without an identity.

He was liable for the decisions made that caused these camps to be repeatedly bombed and caused people to be killed, and forced children to live in inhumane conditions.

The Palestinians who were dispersed around the world, who had to die longing for their land and suffer torture like nothing else, were all decisions he made. If Israel owns the world’s most terrifying weapons and has nuclear power it is because he laid the foundations 50 years ago.

Shimon Peres is probably the only pitiless politician, who looks like a dove, who doesn’t hesitate to commit massacres yet receives the Nobel Peace Prize. His death reminded us of all the forgotten sorrows, memories and massacres. A mother was carrying a banner reading, “Peres murdered my child,” upon receiving the news of his death.

Why was he given the Nobel Peace Prize?

I am sure everyone will see the same pattern in any Israel politician’s biography who shares the same deep hatred, mercilessness and rage as Peres.

However, I believe he is different from his fellow mates as he was granted the Nobel Peace Prize. Giving the prize to Peres was an insult to all of us. Maybe the actual indicator that made this prize meaningless was his assured attitude when he received the prize. The same prize being given to Obama showed us all that the prize’s criteria are incoherent. The Middle East has never seen a war atrocity worse than that seen during the presidency of Obama.

Exploiting and abusing humanitarian values

For this reason, I always believe this prize has a bloodstain on it. The Nobel Prizes are the best examples for the West to exploit humanitarian values and emotions for their own benefits. Just like the World Press prize the Dutch Royal family supports, just like the Oscars that are the biggest symbol of American imperialism. Exploitation, atrocities, separatism, marginalization, justifying political interests are all achieved through these prizes.

Marginalizing a society, isolating them and alienating them are achieved through these prizes. The decisions were always political but they were never confessed.

The prize that legitimated the division of Palestine

After receiving this prize, Peres said he would bring peace to Palestine, yet all he brought was death and exile. The prize isolated Arafat, tore Ramallah from the mainland Palestine and marginalized Gaza.

While 1.5 million Palestinians were left to starve because of the siege and sanctions, everyone left the prize to Peres, Arafat and Ramallah. While Palestinian children were killed flying kites on Gaza beaches, no one showed any interest in the marginalized Gaza.

The world remained silent while 10 Turks were martyred on the Mavi Marmara ship opposing the inhumane siege on Gaza.

While all this was happening, Peres was the president. He was the witness of everything, the decision maker and the one responsible for everything that happened. The prize he received stood on the table, while he undersigned the decisions for these massacres.

For all of the above reasons, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan exclaimed the following statement to Peres’s face in Davos: “You know how to kill! And I know how you killed the children on the beaches.”

Yes we will all be witnesses on the Day of Judgment. The blood on the prize is Palestinian blood and the reason is Peres.

*Kemal Öztürk is a Turkish columnist. He writes for Yeni Şafak Turkish newspaper

     (Published in Yeni Şafak daily newspaper on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016)