Kare Kristiansen, 85, Quit Nobel Committee Over Arafat

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Kare Kristiansen, who died Saturday at 85, was a former member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee who publicly resigned when the committee decided to award the 1994 prize to Yasser Arafat.


His death was announced by the Norwegian Israel Center Against anti-Semitism and reported on the Web site of the publication Arutz Sheva, israelnationalnews.com.


“Arafat has been one of the most renowned terrorists in the world,” Kristiansen told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 1994, when he announced his resignation. “He has killed a lot of innocent people.”


Arafat shared the 1994 Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.


Kristiansen also alleged that one Nobel committee member, the Norwegian politician Terje Roed-Larsen, had accepted money from Mr. Peres shortly before voting for him. After Kristiansen resigned, he continued to issue statements demanding that the committee “publicly deplore” Arafat’s award.


The Nobel judges were unmoved. As late as 2004, four of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told the Jerusalem Post that Arafat was a worthy winner. Meanwhile, at least three of the committee members condemned Mr. Peres for supporting the policies of Prime Minister Sharon.


Kristiansen served as leader of Norway’s Christian Democratic Party, minister of oil and energy from 1983 to 1986, and speaker of the Odelsting, the Norway’s house of commons.


Kristiansen was a longtime supporter of Israel, and in 1997 led a delegation of Norwegians demanding that his country’s embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.


But he also could be critical of Israeli policy, and was outspoken in his opposition to Mr. Sharon’s policy of disengagement from Gaza when Israeli settlers were ejected earlier this year.


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