The concept of peace is central to all religions, and the Bible even quotes Jesus Christ as saying: "Blessed are the peacemakers...", but like many other precepts, it is honoured more in the breach than in the observance. Likewise, the peacemakers are liable to attract suspicion and worse, the extremists' violent prejudice, rather than any thanks or appreciation, as a spate of cases show.
In the last seventy decades in the wake of the First and the Second World Wars, as nations united so as to prevent the scourge of war, and if not, to at least ameliorate its effects on the innocents, peacemaking became a full-time and hopefully, sacrosanct activity. But, as said, both the peacemakers and the peacekeepers seemed to somehow attract the worst from the people whom they sought to protect, with zealots of either side or other vested interests, gunning for them.
Mahatma Gandhi is the best example in the Indian context, over accusations that he was not mindful of the interests of his "own" people, and calling for amity at a time when a sort of "blood lust" seemed to have seized people. But, there are more examples of those who sought to solve problems in faraway lands, where they had no stake at all, and still went to pay for it.
Let's take up three cases - of two Swedes, and a Brazilian, who paid much for their efforts. Why they are still relevant is because peace is still elusive in the lands where they tried their best, and it is important to know what we can learn from them and the mindsets of those who opposed and eliminated them.
The first was Swedish nobleman and diplomat, Count Folke Bernadotte
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