Stockholm Conference for Reconstruction of Lebanon Must Be Expanded to Include Both Victim Parties

August 16, 2006

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE
64, avenue Marceau - 75008 Paris - Tel. +33147237637 - Fax: +33147208401

Wiesenthal Centre to Swedish Prime Minister: "Stockholm Conference for Reconstruction of Lebanon Must Be Expanded to Include Both Victim Parties, Thereby Rejecting Exclusion and Discrimination"

Paris

The Swedish Government has convened an international donors conference for the reconstruction of Lebanon, to take place on 31 August in Stockholm.

In a letter to Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, noted that "though Sweden may no longer maintain its historical status of neutrality, its policy should surely reflect impartiality in treating contemporary conflicts."

Samuels characterized the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and its Museum of Tolerance as "campaigners against all forms of discrimination and prejudice", adding that "in this spirit, our over 400,000 members urge Sweden to expand this conference to include both victim parties of this tragic war."

The letter continued, "Jewish, Druze, Muslim and Christian civilian citizens of such Israeli cities as Haifa, Acre, Safed, Carmiel, and of surrounding Galilean villages, have been subjected to almost 4,000 Hizbollah terrorist missiles. Over 16,000 destroyed homes must be rebuilt, and the some 500,000 displaced must be rehabilitated."

The Centre proposed that "rather than the site of a unilateral conference, Stockholm can serve as a symbol of confidence-building and consolidation across the ceasefire lines", pointing out that "sixty countries, aid agencies and NGO's have been invited to Stockholm on 31 August - but apparently not the State of Israel, nor concerned Jewish NGO's accredited to the United Nations, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre."

Samuels concluded: "Mr Prime Minister, there is still time to demonstrate multilateralism and universality rather than exclusion and discrimination. Our Centre is ready to assist the Swedish authorities in making the Stockholm conference a true exercise in containing incitement and rebuilding the structure of peace."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.