Dynamite and controversy in Oslo: The Nobel Peace Prize
In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat proudly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony held in Oslo, Norway. The award acknowledged their not inconsiderable efforts dedicated to achieving peace in the Middle East and directed international attention to future negotiations toward this objective. With the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin in 1995, such efforts appeared in danger of being undermined.
At a memorial service held in Oslo in November 1995, US President Bill Clinton vowed to sustain the forceful efforts that Rabin had brought with him in this quest for peace, saying that Rabin had "risked his life to defend his country - today he gave his life to bring it a lasting peace." Clinton again honored this statement at a summit held in Oslo, meeting with Arafat and Rabin's successor, Ehud Barak, in order to renew the struggle for peace in the Middle East.
Their choice of Oslo as the site for these negotiations was an interesting one, given the long history of friction between Israel and Palestine. It was here that Rabin, Peres, and Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, and where the secret negotiations leading up to the Oslo II agreement between Israel and the PLO were held. Oslo has been acknowledged a city of peace since chosen by Alfred Nobel to house the Peace Prize nominee selection and awards, yet, like the situations it seeks to mediate, even this practice finds its origins in conflict.
Alfred Nobel died on December 10, 1896, leaving a substantial fortune which he intended to be used for the creation of the Nobel Prize Foundation. This fortune was based on the invention of dynamite, an explosive substance which revolutionized construction and mining techniques, and found its application in armaments as well. Some say that it was a matter of conscience that Nobel decided to leave his wealth for the Foundation, and that guilt over the repercussions of his invention had led him to emphasize the positive inventive aspects of human nature in the search for the common good. Yet others say that the Foundation was an idea inspired by an episode of unrequited love for Austrian countess Bertha Kinsky von Suttner, who later, in fact, won the Peace Prize with her novel Down with Arms. Whether or not it was one explanation or the other is irrelevant, in any case. It is sufficient to say that such factors had set the precedent for future negotiations involving highly emotional conflicts of power, violence, industry, and strategic alliance (be it in marriage or international politics).
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