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U. Angelucci: Address to First Middle East Peace Talk
Written by Umberto Angelucci, regional chair of UPF for the Middle East
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Address to First Middle East Peace Talk, July 16, 2020
Good evening to everyone: Ambassadors for Peace, colleagues, brothers and sisters.
It is a pleasure to be with you again. It has been a long time since some of us met at the World Summit 2020, last February in Korea. That was an incredible experience, I am sure you all agree.
I have been listening to your insightful speeches and appreciate your devotion to peace in the Middle East.
We all know that the Middle East at this time is facing different challenges, and to overcome this situation, we must come up with drastic solutions.
The coronavirus has affected us in many ways. Already it has been four months since it started, and it seems as though the situation is not going to change. This is affecting us in different ways. We need to think how we are going to respond to this challenge.
Due to the coronavirus we are requested to keep social distance and not have much personal interaction. We are isolated, and unnecessary fear is being created. There is a feeling of loss and disappointment.
At the same time this situation is forcing us to look at new ways to reach out to each other; otherwise it would be a disaster. We know that through isolation and separation we cannot create a prosperous and peaceful world. The only way is to interact and get involved in the problems of our society.
The founders of the Universal Peace Federation, Father and Mother Moon, are calling all Ambassadors for Peace to join hands and take action together based on the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values.
The idea of this forum is to create the platform to find new ways to solve the problems of our society.
I would like to share with you one of Mother Moon’s biggest concerns. She is planning to support the peaceful unification of North and South Korea and thinking how all of us can contribute as a network of peacemakers.
As you may know, South Korea after the Korean War was in a disastrous situation: The entire country was devastated by the war. Because many nations from all over the world contributed to the rebuilding of South Korea under the banner of the United Nations, we can see a prosperous South Korea today.
The country by itself could never have reached this level of development alone; only with the support of the international community could this happen. This is one effective example of interdependence and mutual prosperity in our history.
Likewise, Father Moon during his life contributed greatly to the development of North Korea. He met Kim Il Sung, the president at the time, and made agreements on the peaceful unification of the peninsula. He made many economic developments with his personal investment for cultural exchange, industry, and tourism.
Mother Moon is planning on visiting North Korea soon to finalize this dream, and she will invite many high-level dignitaries to join her.
In preparation for this visit, she will hold a series of online Rallies of Hope, and the first will be on August 9. We hope you can join her and demonstrate your support for her peace initiatives and efforts. She is continuing the effort to unite the Korean Peninsula using these same principles of investing unconditionally and living for the sake of others.
As many of you are familiar, we have similar initiatives in other parts of the world such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
In the Middle East we held the Middle East Peace Initiative programs for many years, bringing Israeli and Palestinian brothers together in peace. Also, we have organized conferences with Parliamentarians for Peace and made memoranda of understanding with other peace-minded organizations in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
We have organized projects to face the issues of Syria, interreligious harmony, educating youth to become Youth Ambassadors for Peace and serving refugees, to name a few.
From this forum we would like to encourage all Ambassadors for Peace to come up with new peace initiatives targeting specific issues such as Syria, Yemen, etc.
To conclude: In order to solve the problems of the world, we need to apply in our life the principle of interdependence and mutual prosperity based on universal values. Unless we live for the sake of others, there will be no final solutions to the problems of the world.
Unless we respect our Creator God and the principles by which He created this universe, we will not be able to establish a harmonious and prosperous society.
Let us find many common points through this forum and take the lead in bringing solutions to the Middle East and the world.
Once again, thank you very much for your contribution to this initiative. May God bless you all.
To go back to the first Middle East Peace Talk article, click here.