Mr. Geir Lundestad, Ph. D.

Director,

Nobel Peace Prize Committee,

Oslo.

Dear Sir,

On behalf of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, I hereby submit an official request to annul the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Mr. Shimon Peres.

We are aware of the legalistic obstacles that seemingly prevent the retroactive cancellation of a prize already awarded, but we believe that this is a special case that demands special treatment.

The prize was awarded to Mr. Peres - after some hesitation, I believe - for the part he played in achieving the Oslo Declaration of Principles, a major step towards Israel-Palestinian peace. According to the preamble of the DOP, this peace was supposed to be based on mutual respect and conciliation.

For some unjust reason, the prize was not awarded to Mr. Mahmud Abbas, (Abu Mazen), the Palestinian counterpart, who has worked for Israeli-Palestinian peace long before Mr. Peres, at a time when Mr. Peres was diligently setting up settlements of Israeli right-wing extremists on Palestinian land. I myself met Mr. Abbas many times in Tunis, from 1982 on, and before that, in 1974, established contacts with his emissaries, Said Hamami and Issam Sartawi, peace heroes who were both murdered.

Be that as it may, now a completely new situation has emerged.

On March 7, 2001, a so-called "National Unity" government was set up in Israel, dominated by Mr. Ariel Sharon, an extreme right-wing leader whose ambition is to annex all Palestinian territories to a Greater Israel, cover them with Israeli towns and villages and condemn the Palestinian people to imprisonment in a number of disconnected "Bantustans" - if not worse. This government included - and does include today - ministers openly committed to the idea of ethnic cleansing.

Mr. Peres eagerly agreed to take up the post of Foreign Minister in this government, in practice selling the prestige attached to his Novel Prize to Mr. Sharon, enabling him to camouflage his real intentions and gain the confidence of the world at a critical stage. Since than, Mr. Peres is providing pretexts for all Mr. Sharon's deeds and

misdeeds, becoming in effect a travelling salesman and propaganda minister for Mr. Sharon. From time to time he voices some vague misgivings, but in effect he and Mr. Sharon play the old trick of "good cop" and "bad cop". As a member of the government, Mr. Peres bears responsibility for acts that may lead their perpetrators to indictments in The Hague.

It is the height of irony that Mr. Peres, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in achieving the Oslo agreement, is now helping Mr. Sharon to destroy the agreement and everything resulting from it.

When Alfred Nobel created this renowned institution, his intention was to reward man and woman with a moral backbone, setting them up as examples to mankind. He certainly did not intend to encourage acts of brazen political prostitution.

We believe that the cancellation may also provide a warning against such act in the future.

In all due respect,

Uri Avnery,

Former Member of the Knesset,

Alternative Nobel Prize laureate.