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Deutsche Welle

This year’s prestigious Aachen Peace Award was presented last Monday and there were three winners. The National Aachen Peace Award of 2008 went to German Prof. Dr. Andreas Buro. He is almost a legendary figure of the German peace movement. Since the early 1950’s, Prof. Buro has been trying to work out peaceful approaches to all kinds of conflicts in the world, including religious conflicts, and he has developed a theoretical system of civil conflict management as an alternative to military missions. The two co-recipients of this year’s International Aachen Peace Award have both been working for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Christians and Muslims - but from opposite sides of the divide:  the Israeli women’s organization Machsom Watch , which was founded in 2001, keeps an eye on Israeli army checkpoints. The second recipient is the Palestinian Lutheran Pastor of the Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Mitri Raheb, who’s creating employment in the West Bank. The two winners were chosen because in their individual ways, they both champion peace and support a civilian and nonviolent solution to conflicts at a grassroots level in an exemplary manner.

(Report: Susan Houlton)