A group of Israeli intellectuals and activists has demanded that the Nobel prize committee withdraw the award for economics scheduled to be made yesterday to an Israeli mathematician and his US colleague on the grounds that they are "warmongers."
The economics prize is to be presented to Robert Aumann of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Thomas Schelling of Maryland University in recognition of their "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis," a mathematical study of how individuals and governments react to other people's actions including in war.
The awarding of Nobel peace prizes is often controversial but it is rare for the scientific laureates to generate significant opposition.
However, a petition to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences signed by about 1,000 intellectuals and academics from Israel, Europe and the US describes the awarding of this year's prize to the two professors as "monstrous."
The critics accuse Aumann -- a member of the hawkish think tank, Professors for a Strong Israel, which believes the Jewish state should retain the occupied territories -- of using his mathematical theories to promote his political views.
"Aumann uses his analysis to justify the Israeli occupation and the oppression of the Palestinians," the petition says.
It describes Schelling's theories as directly inspiring the US military strategy in Vietnam, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
"This strategy resulted in 2 million civilian deaths and was a complete failure in realizing its objectives," the petition says.
"Neither of these individuals has contributed anything that improves the human condition; rather, they have contributed to the misery of millions," it continues.
The petition is signed by Israeli peace campaigners, economists, academics, Holocaust survivors and leftwing politicians. Signatories from about 50 other countries, including the US and several Arab states, have also supported it.
Shraga Elam, an Israeli writer among those behind the petition, concedes that his objection is to Aumann's political views and not to the quality of the analysis on game theory.
"Every person, including a Nobel prize laureate, is entitled to his political views," he said.
"But ... it is not enough to say that politics does not enter in to it. Can a racist or a Holocaust denier receive the Nobel prize even if he is very talented in his scientific field? Political views are relevant," he said.
Aumann, who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and moved to Israel in 1956, has described the removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip as an "expulsion" and described it as "immoral, inhuman and stupid."
In a recorded interview with a US Web site after winning the Nobel prize, Aumann said game theory showed that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip was a mistake.
"From a game theory point of view it was a very bad move. But if I didn't study game theory, I would also say the same thing. It was a bad move because it sends a signal to the other side that if you apply enough pressure then we will respond in a way that you're applying pressure. It's a bad move theoretically. It sends the wrong signal," he said.
Nobel Peace Prize
Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog and its director general Mohamed ElBaradei were to receive the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize in for their efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, 60 years after the world's first atomic attack.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its 63-year-old Egyptian chief are being honored "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes."
The agency and ElBaradei have most recently been instrumental in thorny nuclear negotiations in Iran, threatening to take the country before the UN Security Council for violating non-proliferation rules.
Speaking in Oslo on Friday, ElBaradei said the international community was losing patience with Iran over its nuclear program but cautioned against using military action.
"I don't believe there is a military solution to the issue," he said.
He and the UN agency were to receive the prize, consisting of a Nobel diploma, a gold medal and 10 million krona (US$1.3 million) to be split between them, from chairman of the Nobel Committee Ole Mjoes at a formal ceremony in Oslo last night.
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