Many people in this country are uninformed as to the effects of the fighting in Kosovo, according to Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel.

Weisel, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps during World War II, spoke to Marist College students on his views regarding the conflict in Kosovo.

Weisel said the fighting occuring in Kosovo is because of hatred between two groups and compared it to a passage in the Bible.

"Whoever kills, kills his brother," he said. "It's the sin of killing your neighbor."

The conflict in Kosovo has been intense since Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic stripped Kosovo of its autonomy in 1989. Recently NATO has been putting pressure on Milosevic to sign a peace agreement, including authorizing airstrikes in the region.

Weisel, whose parents and younger sister were killed in the Holocaust, said he believes that intervention was the only way to stop the fighting in between the Ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

"I do believe we should intervene, as much as I'm against war," he said. "If we had intervened in the first week, we probably could have stopped Milosevic then."

While Weisel said he agrees that Milosevic is "guilty of atrocities", he said that the fighting should not be referred to as genocide.

"It's not genocide, it's something else," he said. Weisel said his greatest fear is that much of the population in this country shows indifference towards international conflicts.

"Neutrality does not help the victims," he said. "It only helps the victimizers."The U.S. is the only great power left in this world today. But Weisel questions what makes a country a great power. He said he feels that how rich a country is should not determine its power, but rather only if that country has a commitment to humanity.

According to Weisel, part of the blame for the indifference in this country can be found in the teaching procedures of colleges and universities. "How many professors would stop in the middle of Shakespeare and say 'Let's stop and talk about Kosovo'," he said.

Weisel said that in the 1960's and 1970's students showed more initiative in trying to make a difference in the world. While many people are indifferent to the fighting in Kosovo, Weisel said that it was honorable to fight for peace especially with a country as powerful as the United States. "To die for democracy, it is the honor of or country to come to the aid of the victims," he said. "It is even our duty to try to give them autonomy."

According to Weisel, he is happy that some progress has been made to suppress conflicts such as the one in Kosovo such as the formation of human rights organizations. While in the 1930's there were only five, there are now over 2,000 organizations that fight for human rights throughout the world.

Weisel said he feels that we must not ignore the conflicts going on throughout the world, but also look towards a bright future. "We must go on and hope that peace will prevail," he said.