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PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat (left) and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres shake hands during the Carter-Menil Award ceremony in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: Anthony Allsion)
On May 18, as the first steps were taken to enact an agreement for limited Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, former President Jimmy Carter and philanthropist Dominique de Menil were in Oslo honoring Norwegians for their groundbreaking efforts to resolve that conflict and to promote peace world-wide.
The occasion was ceremonies for a one-time special peace award from The Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation. Joining President Carter, who chairs the Foundation, and Mrs. de Menil, Foundation president, were PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Queen Sonja of Norway, Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjorn Tore Godal, and Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
 The award included the dedication of the Tony Smith sculpture "Marriage" to the people of Norway and a $100,000 Foundation prize to the Institute of Applied Social Science (FAFO) for its work in brokering the September 1993 declaration of principles between the PLO and Israel.
The so-called "Oslo Channel" to peace was created by researchers from FAFO and officials of the Norwegian Royal Foreign Ministry. Their emphasis on nurturing a human framework to deal with divisive political issues proved a successful alternative to the stalemate of official negotiations and an inspirational example of the impact that individuals and nongovernmental organizations can have on world peace.
"Their willingness to take risks, their intimate knowledge of life in the Occupied Territories, and their total dedication led to the signing of the first document between responsible members of the PLO and of the Israelis," said Mrs. de Menil during the ceremonies in Oslo.
Through FAFO's study of living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, researchers developed a relationship with the parties in conflict, who eventually trusted them to facilitate what started as unofficial talks between Israel and the PLO. The Norway team consisted of FAFO Director-General Terje Rod Larsen and his wife, Mona Juul, a department chief at the Norwegian foreign ministry; Jan Egeland, state secretary in the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst and his wife, Marianne Heiberg, a FAFO researcher who conducted the study.
"Would-be peacemakers must get to the roots of a conflict by working with the people who are directly involved. Building up mutual trust between antagonists and mediators is an ex-tremely difficult task," President Carter said. "Increasingly, we have come to understand the unique advantages of nongovernmental organizations.
"NGOs are flexible and non-challenging, and often have reputations for benevolent action. They have the ability to deal with a ruling party, revolutionaries, religious groups, and ex-patriots. On the other hand, it is rarely appropriate for an ambassador or a representative of the United Nations to communicate with a revolutionary group attempting to change a government."
Describing the Norwegian role in the declaration of principles and eventual agreement, Mr. Peres said, "The heart of making peace is to change relations, to change the climate. Actually you have to overcome the emotional map before you are touching the geographic map and, believe me, to cross emotional distances is more difficult than to cross territorial distances.
"From the time of the Vikings, in high seas and low seas, the Norwegians were good navigators. We are very grateful for this navigation," Mr. Peres continued.
"I think the Palestinian leadership, and our leadership, have made clear that we are decided and determined to go ahead, that no act of terror and no act against peace will change the course of our navigation."
Calling the Israelis his "cousins," Mr. Arafat said he was very optimistic that the agreements between Israel and Egypt and Israel and the PLO would be a permanent reality in the Middle East. "We are sure that peace in the Middle East will continue to be a main target for all of us, not only between the Egyptians and the Palestinians and the Israelis," he said, "but also with the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Jordanians, and the Arabs.
"It is worth it to give all our efforts and even our lives for the sake of our new generations, the Israeli children and the Palestinian children."
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