Israeli police greet international literature with machine guns
Karl Schembri
Renowned authors from all over the world, including former Monty Python Michael Palin, were welcomed by an armed squad of Israeli police in Jerusalem last Saturday at the opening of the prestigious Palestinian Festival of Literature.
It was a shock for many of the foreigners gathered at the Palestinian National Theatre, who were ordered to leave the premises shortly before the event was due to start, but only three months ago Israeli police stopped dancers and banned all the other events celebrating Jerusalem as this year’s capital of Arab culture. And earlier this month, Israeli police closed down a Palestinian press centre opened for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.
Israeli police say they are acting on instructions from the interior ministry against Palestinian Authority political activities, but the festival organisers deem such a charge “ridiculous” – it is totally independent with UNESCO and the British Council as its main partners.
The week-long festival in its second year includes the participation of star international authors like Michael Palin of Monty Python fame, Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif and crime novelist and playwright Henning Mankell. Its patrons are Chinua Achebe, John Berger, Seamus Heaney and the late Mahmoud Darwish and Harold Pinter.
“I was shocked by what happened at the opening, but from the very first minute that it all started I realised we were at the right place doing the right thing,” one of the organisers, Eleanor O’Keeffe, said. “If Israelis are still threatened by people with books and culture, this means they are very insecure and fragile people.”
Munzer Fahmy, a bookshop owner touring with the festival said about the Israelis’ action : “They’re sick. There’s no other way to explain it.”
The literature festival is inspired by the late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said’s call to reaffirm “the power of culture over the culture of power”, and the setting could not be more apt.
The opening still took place a few minutes later at the French Cultural Centre after the embassy’s cultural attaché offered the venue, yet the Israelis’ clampdown comes within a broader attempt to stifle Palestinian identity on all fronts.
On the same day, Israeli lawmakers passed a motion to criminalise the commemoration of Nakba Day marking the forced expulsion of thousands of Palestinians from their land. Another proposed amendment from ultra nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party headed by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman is to make a highly controversial loyalty pledge as a precondition for citizenship. This would force Palestinian citizens of Israel to “pledge to be loyal to the State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, to its symbols and values,” and to serve in the army.
Meanwhile the festival is touring the occupied territories as the vast majority of Palestinians are unable to travel around their own country. Readings, music, debates and workshops are being held in Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, and Bethlehem, including workshops at Aida Refugee Camp.
Palin told the crowd in Ramallah on Sunday about the importance of humour wherever justice is missing.
“Laughter is probably the best way of dealing with injustices. In fact I believe that if they sent comedians to Iraq things would be much better.”
Suad Amiry, author of the award-winning ‘Sharon and my mother-in-law’ said how Palestinian time is measured according to the long hours spent at checkpoints and under curfew, but even in such times humour is the best antidote.
O’Keeffe said: “When you see the wall, the demolitions of houses in East Jerusalem and the hundreds of ways they are trying to steal land from Palestinians, it leaves you completely hopeless and depressed.
“But we are very happy that authors come here to witness this injustice and write about their experiences. Nobody really knows how bad it is until they come here. The Israeli PR is trying to hide all this, so it’s very important that we help the story get out. This festival is important to inspire the young people, maybe the next Mahmoud Darwish is here among us.”
The festival is meant to close tomorrow at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem again, although organisers are prepared for another show of force.
“We’ll try holding it there again, but if they don’t allow us, now we know we have an alternative venue,” she said.
Karl Schembri is a correspondent for Ramattan News Agency in the West Bank and Gaza
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