Living in the heart of Israeli-Palestinian clashes, he perceived that the best way to take a step towards reconciliation and dialogue was to teach the Holocaust.
Jean Mouttapa, Director of Spirituality of Editions Albin Michel and a strong player in interreligious dialogue, brought valuable assistance in organizing the French part of the pilgrimage and created the association "Memory for Peace".
This initiative supported by many intellectuals in Israel has attracted over 500 people and earned him the Unesco Prize for Peace Education in the same year.
"I appeal to my Arab brothers to join me together make a strong gesture, audacious and absolutely free.
"I appeal to my Jewish brethren to realize that the vast majority of Arab and Muslim world, the conflict tearing us apart is not religious, racial or even less.
"This trip to the darkest depths of the memory of mankind can in no way relativize the suffering of other people in other places and at other times.