Gush Shalom warmly congratulates Adv. Raji Sourani of Gaza for winning the Right Livelihood Award (better known as “The Alternative Nobel Prize”). It is by all criteria a most worthy choice.

Gush Shalom, an Israeli movement active in opposition to Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, had many occasions of encountering and greatly appreciating Raji Sourani’s tireless work. Over thirty five years he had worked to defend and promote Human Rights in the Arab World in general and in the Palestinian territories in particular.

Sourani had appeared countless times before Israeli courts to defend fellow Palestinians, prosecuted by the occupation authorities. Together with like-minded colleagues, he established the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, which aims at documenting and investigating Human Rights violations and which got a high reputation for careful and meticulous reporting. Sourani himself was imprisoned on six separate occasions, by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

As noted by the Right Livelihood Award Committee, “Adv. Raji Sourani is never hesitant to speak truth to power” - whoever the holder of power might be. Such is the hallmark of the true Human Rights activist, We wish him many more years of fruitful work – or even better, we wish him to find himself unemployed, for lack of Human Rights violations to investigate and oppose.

The winners of this year’s Right Livelihood Award were announced in Stockholm. The cash award, amounting to 2 million Swedish Krone (ca. 230,000 Euro) will be divided between Raji Sourani and this years’ three other laureates: The American Paul Walker, involved in a years-long effort to rid the world of chemical arms; the Congolese Dr. Denis Mukwege, who at considerable life risk takes care of rape victims in the war-torn region of Kivu; and the Swiss Hans Rudolf Herren, who is devoted to helping farmers in Africa to combat hunger, poverty and disease through ecologically sound agriculture.

The Gush Shalom movement and its activists Uri Avnery and the late Rachel Avnery, were among the laureates of the Right Livelihood Award in 2001.

Contact: Adam Keller adam@gush-shalom.org