Nice Premium: The 6th Pax Medicalis meetings on peace will take place on June 29 in Nice, can you tell us more about it?
Dr. Daniel Bensoussan: Our apolitical association, which brings together healthcare professionals of all faiths and nationalities, has been organizing citizen meetings for peace centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past six years. Initially focused on the medical field (to achieve Medical Peace, hence our name), these have broadened to include areas as varied as education, philosophy, culture, music, and even sports. These meetings have always taken place in Menton, a city that has always supported us, and continues to do so. This 6th edition will be held in Nice, a relocation that meets the need for the development of our actions according to the wishes of the members.
The theme chosen this year is literature, and these meetings will bring together Israeli, Palestinian, and Mediterranean writers who will discuss the role of literature (and writers) in the quest for peace.
With the agreement of Christian Estrosi, these literary meetings have been integrated, thanks to the generous involvement of Mr. Raoul Mille and Martine Ouaknine, into the Book Festival.
Nice Premium: Two round table discussions are planned, what will be the themes and who are the participants?
DB: Indeed, we often wonder about the role of intellectuals, writers, and Mediterranean thinkers in the peace dynamic that is slow to emerge. Are they sufficiently positively involved or can we speak of an intellectual failure? For our part, we believe that today more than ever, their commitment is eminently desirable; hence the title “the pen and the olive tree.”
Two round table discussions will follow, led by literary journalists Nathalie Levisalles and Michel Eckhard-Elial.
The first will have the theme: “Understanding the other through their writings.” It will bring together MIRA MAGEN, YOSSI SARID, SARI NUSSEIBEH, ABDELKBIR KHATIBI, SALAH AL HAMDANI.
The second “From book to books. Is literature a vector of peace in the Mediterranean?” will bring together Bahiyyeh Nakhjavani, ANTOINE SFEIR, MIRON C. IZAKSON, BOUALEM SANSAL, NAIM ARAYDI.
All are renowned writers and some are great peace actors. Their biographies are available on the association’s website.
Nice Premium: A few words about the Union of Mediterranean Writers?
DB: The Union of Mediterranean Countries desired by our President NS will take a very long time to materialize, or will not?
And according to his own words:
“Unlike Europe, the Mediterranean union will not be built on steel and politics, but on culture.”
Christian Estrosi expressed the desire to make Nice the cultural center of the Mediterranean. Ours is for these literary meetings “the pen and the olive tree” to serve as a launching pad for the Union of Mediterranean Writers!
Nice Premium: What are the other projects of your association Pax Medicalis?
DB: There are no limits to any initiative aimed at achieving real peace in our Mediterranean region; our reflection and our actions are multiple: literature, medicine, culture, sports, philosophy, religion, etc. We identify with anything that can bring together goodwill for a dialogue without exclusion.
The Pax Medicalis association is celebrating its 5th anniversary throughout 2008. This year is marked by expansion, rejuvenation, and openness.
In addition to holding the 6th Meetings for Peace, the expanded Pax Medicalis team has decided to multiply its manifestations, with a program including meetings with young students, exported meetings to other cities in the region, but also to other countries around the Mediterranean, and the creation of a new event.
Indeed, the year of the 5th anniversary is for us an opportunity to create a particularly strong and symbolic annual or biennial appointment, since we have decided to pay tribute to personalities who, in our opinion, are the “Lumières of our time,” personalities whose humanistic philosophy has marked our era and thus, by force of circumstances, our minds.
This event during which we will give the “Golden Olive” specially created by artist Anna Chromy, who imagined and designed “The Cloak of Peace” in Prague and in many other cities.
The first Golden Olive was recently awarded to a great personality, now living nearby, an embodiment of generosity, who dedicated her entire life to helping underprivileged children: Sister Emmanuelle.
Our association will organize in November, on the occasion of her centenary, in partnership with associations sponsored by Sister Emmanuelle, a grand homage day to this great lady.
Nice Premium: Lastly, could the Mediterranean be a “mother” of peace?
DB: It is evident that today the world is going through a period of uncertainty and violence. The “mare nostrum” is bearing the brunt of it. Mediterranean civilizational poles are fading decade by decade and the nerve centers are inexorably shifting to distant lands. Given this observation, only a just, ecumenical peace because of faith and reason, could reverse the trend, allowing each people to find its place in finally regained serenity.
