Tutu urges resolution of Middle East clash

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LLANDRINDOD WELLS, Wales, May 29 (UPI) -- Nobel Prize-winning activist Desmond Tutu said at a Welsh festival solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is integral to solving the world's other problems.

Appearing at the Hay Festival in Wales, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, said if the ongoing problem in the Middle East cannot be solved, no other global issues can be resolved, The Daily Telegraph (Britain) reported Friday.

"If we don't solve that problem (the conflict in Palestine) you can give up on all other problems," Tutu said Thursday.

"You can give up on nuclear disarmament, on ever winning a war against terror. You can give up any hope of our faiths ever working really amicably and in a friendly way together."

Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1984, referred to South Africa's past battles with apartheid to give hope regarding a possible end to the current Middle East crisis.

"One of the reasons God put South Africa as an example of success was to give the world some tangible notice that there's no situation that is totally intractable, so the world would have to say, 'If they can do it in South Africa then they can do it anywhere,'" Tutu said.