Our History - The Copenhagen Group
In 1995 and 1996, a group of influential Israeli and Egyptian intellectuals, politicians and writers met at Louisiana, the
Danish Museum of Modern Art. The idea was to inject some warmth into the cold peace between
Egypt and
Israel and to seek ways to advance the
peace process between Israelis and Arabs.
The meetings were arranged by the then Editor-in-chief of Politiken, Mr.
Herbert Pundik, the founder of Louisiana Knud W. Jensen, and the Royal
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The participants attended the meetings in their personal capacities and Chatham House rules were applied. The meetings were kept secret and nothing has been published from the discussions that took place.
Due to the
stalemate of the Middle East Peace Process in the fall of 1996, it was decided to change the concept of the Louisiana dialogue. The participation was extended to include
Palestinians and Jordanians, and it became the aim to establish a
popular movement in support of the Middle East Peace Process. Thus the Louisiana Process was launched.
On January 1997, some 100 participants including representatives from
Egypt,
Israel,
Jordan, and the
Palestinian Authority met for a conference at the Louisiana Museum. The conference was officially opened by the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Niels Helveg Petersen, and the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation,
Poul Nielson. Several International personalities were present, including senior EU officials. The conference established "
The International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace" and passed a resolution known as the
Copenhagen Declaration, outlining the road to peace.
The four delegations were led by the late
Lutfi El-Khuly, from Egypt, Director General of the Afro-Asian Writer Association, Dr.
Dave Kimche, Former Director General of the
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Professor
Sari Nusseibeh, President of the Palestinian
Al-Quds University and General (Ret)
Ihsan Shurdom, Former Chief of Staff of the
Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Although participants of the Louisiana Process hold positions in their countries and several of them have close connections with their governments, the Alliance is a purely non-governmental project (NGP) with the aim of
promoting peace in the Middle East.
The Louisiana process has sparked much
debate in the region, sharpening the public discourse, especially in Egypt and Jordan, and forcing many intellectuals to
take a stand in the debate for or against
normalization with Israel. It is clear that the establishment of the International Alliance brought the concept of Israeli-Arab cooperation to global attention.
Meetings were since scheduled and resulted in joint television appearances in each of the participating countries and group appearances for mixed audiences in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Following significant political events, "Copenhagen declarations" sponsored by the individual chapters, would appear in the press reiterating their commitment to the peace process. In 1999 the Israeli President
Ezer Weizman hosted the group as part of the anniversary celebrations of 20 years of
Israeli-Egyptian peace.
A
second conference of over 100 participants with large Egyptian participation in addition to significant Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian representation was held in
Cairo in 1999. The Egyptian Chapter established the "
Cairo Peace Movement" as a result of their ongoing activities.
In September 2000 the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace received the
European Award for Peace from the European Foundation for Culture at a ceremony in Copenhagen attended by
prince Henrik, the prince consort of Denmark.
In August 2002 the steering committee met in
Istanbul and discussed options for a common platform, in addition to deliberation on continued activities of the Alliance such as teams of lecturers, publication of articles, establishment of an Internet website. They decided upon the framework, location, timing and messages of the present peace conference. In May 2003, The Copenhagen Group
released another declaration calling "for a stop to the vicious cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis".
It is more difficult to win hearts than to conquer territory. The Louisiana Dialogues started a wave which the initiators couldn`t have imagined. It is about speaking together after the canons have spoken for the last 55 years.
