United Nations officials reported Wednesday that Nobel Laureate, Bishop
Desmond Tutu, has been named to head a UN fact-finding mission to Beit
Hanoun town, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli
army killed 19 civilians, earlier this month, after shelling their
houses as they were sleeping.
Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid campaigner and the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will be heading to Gaza to asses the situation and meet with survivors of the Israeli military attack in addition to making recommendations and finding means that would ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians.
Tutu also chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is south Africa after the end of the apartheid system there.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize om 1984, and is considered one of the prominent activists against discrimination and apartheid.
Tutu previously said that the Israeli occupation to Palestine is similar to the apartheid regime that dominated south Africa.
Moreover, Tutu demanded the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the US president, George Bush, to apologize for the “immoral war” they carried in Iraq.
Two weeks ago, the General Assembly of the UN decided to send a fact-finding commission to Beit Hanoun. The decision was approved by 156 countries, while seven countries objected and six abstained.
The United States, Australia, Canada were among the countries who voted against the resolution that also called on Israel to immediately withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
