In a recent telephone interview, Mr. Kristiansen told me: “In view of what has transpired in the Middle East over the past ten years, I am more convinced than ever that I did the right thing in following my conscience. Honoring Arafat downgraded the prestige of the Nobel Prize and diminished respect for it. In today’s world, most political leaders in democratic states agree on the need to fight terrorism and to prove that ‘terror shouldn’t pay.’ And, in my opinion, if they were given the option today, my former colleagues would not select Arafat [posthumously, obviously] for the prize.”
But he added, “I recently wrote a letter to a Norwegian newspaper, requesting that the current Nobel Committee [which now has new members] express regret for the decision of their predecessors to honor Arafat. They declined.”
In today’s post-9/11 world, it is easy to forget the optimistic and at times euphoric atmosphere that reigned during the early years of the “Oslo process.” Swimming against the current was politically incorrect. Kaare Kristiansen, by virtue of his courageous and resolute stand and his willingness to give up his seat on one of the world’s most prestigious bodies, is a modern-day profile in courage.