Jordan Times
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Queen makes peace plea on behalf of war victims
AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Rania has made a plea on behalf of victims of war in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
In a televised message to mark International Peace Day addressing supporters of the Peace One Day movement, the Queen highlighted the humanitarian crises in the region as a result of wars.
“The reality of peace is sadly absent from the lives of too many in the Middle East,” she told an audience of more than 4,000 supporters of the London-based movement, gathering Friday at the Royal Albert Hall in the British capital.
Referring to the holy fasting month of Ramadan as a time of giving, the Queen said it was “particularly painful” that “too many of my people’s mothers, fathers, children in Palestine and Iraq are starved of the thing they need the most: peace.”
“In a time where children are meant to be waking up to the sounds of laughter and honking school buses, many of the children of the Middle East are hearing cries of pain, bullets and bombs as the situation in the region continues to worsen,” Queen Rania said in the taped message, meant to raise awareness about humanitarian crises caused by wars in the region.
“Peace means our children can fall asleep to a mother’s soft voice, not screaming sirens; play with building blocks, not watch their homes destroyed; make friends not lose them; dream up big plans for the future, no wonder if they will have one,” said the Queen.
Peace One Day began as a film project by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley in 1999. His aim was to establish the first-ever annual day of global ceasefire and nonviolence.
In 2001, September 21 was unanimously adopted by UN member states as the International Peace Day.
A nonprofit organisation, Peace One Day’s aim is to raise awareness of Peace Day and to engage all sectors of society in observance of the day through the practical manifestation of nonviolence and ceasefire, and encourage action to create a united and sustainable world.
The Queen’s audience in London enjoyed the sold-out concert, which included a well-blended mix of music and messages. Performances by Annie Lennox, James Morrison, Corinne Bailey Rae, Kate Nash, Yousif Islam, and Marc Almond were peppered with messages of support and advocacy from other famous personalities including Jude Law, Lord Puttnam, Ahmed Fawzi, David Beckham, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Angelina Jolie.
Encouraging the concertgoers to continue raising their voices for peace and all the supporters of peace worldwide, Queen Rania pleaded “whatever pledge you made for peace on this day - take it forward. Make it a pledge for all your days”.
The Queen also signed the Peace One Day commitment wall this week, where she committed “to advocate for the children of Palestine, Iraq, and beyond, caught up in war’s senseless tragedy”.
Jordan is a signatory to the International Peace Day.