Ahdaf Suif | Liberal values

On Monday, October 28, six small book groups, including the Palestinian Festival of Literature (PalFest), published an open letter signed by a thousand writers (I am one of them) committing to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that are “complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights.” . rights” and “have never publicly recognized the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law.” This is a boycott that Palestinian civil society began calling for twenty years ago.

On October 25, even before the open letter was published, UK Lawyers for Israel had already issued a statement threatening potential boycotters, and on October 29, an organization called Creative Community for Peace, part of whose mission is to “galvanize support against cultural boycott of Israel” published its own open letter in response, gaining a thousand signatures.

The CCP letter begins with a misrepresentation, claiming that the call calls for a boycott of “Israeli and Jewish writers…as well as those who support, work with, or support them.” Essentially, the call is to boycott Israeli cultural institutions who are complicit or silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.” Regarding the exclusion of the words “Jew” and “Israelite,” my Jewish colleagues have been wrestling with this issue for a long time, so I leave it to them. But pretending that the boycott is aimed at writers allows the CCP letter to accuse the boycotters of “harassing and ostracizing their colleagues,” insisting on a “one-sided narrative,” excluding “anyone who does not unilaterally condemn.” Israel” and ultimately the end of freedom of speech.

I continue to be amazed by the extent to which Israel apologists project their actions onto others. “Excluding anyone who does not unilaterally condemn Israel,” they write, “is an inversion of morality and a obfuscation of reality.” But the most visible demand for unilateral condemnation since last October has been the media refrain: “Do you condemn Hamas?”

“Boycotts of creative people and creative institutions,” the CCP letter said, “simply create more divisions and incite further hatred.” They want us to believe that it is the cessation of our labor that creates division and hatred, not the killing of children, the destruction of homes, the loss of friends and family, forced marches, torture, starvation and humiliation. They will take all this calmly, but will refrain from boycotting.

As for their paragraph describing “self-righteous sects, movements and cults who have used short-lived moments of power to impose their vision of purity, persecute, exclude, boycott and intimidate those with whom they disagree” – isn’t that what Israel does ? Every accusation is a confession. They even accuse these “sects” of potentially burning people – and they wrote this after the Israeli attack on the hospital in Jabaliya on October 14, after the world saw how 19-year-old Shaban el-Dalou and other patients were burned alive. in their beds.

In the past few days, other texts have appeared criticizing the boycott letter. Most of them, like the CCP letter, mention the obligatory paragraphs about “liberal values ​​that most writers consider sacred”: freedom, justice, equality, peace. How will we get them? We “bring people together, cross borders, raise awareness, open dialogue.” “Sharing Ideas” is also a favorite. Bringing a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim together on stage is courageous and a step towards “peace.”

Enough, really, enough of the rhetoric with nice words: Amira Hass (need I add “Jewish Israeli journalist”?) said at the very beginning of this war that the normal is now obscene. For many of us, these seemingly innocent words have now become obscene; for decades they have been used to cover up horrific crimes. Does this mean that writers who declare a collective boycott will hinder the path to peace? Is this the path that has been taken in eight decades without a boycott? What life, what acre of Palestinian land, what olive tree has been saved by the free exchange of ideas? How much worse is the situation in Palestine now, and to what extent is the cultural smokescreen enveloping Israel responsible?

It’s too late. If the tonnage and spread of Israeli bombs, the footage of destruction, the number of people killed and maimed, the testimony of Palestinian journalists, medics and international workers were not enough to convince the rest of the world of the reality of Israel What is happening in Palestine, the boasts of Israeli troops filmed did the trick. videos, bluster from politicians and dispassionate statements from settler leaders. There is no place for people anymore.

There comes a time when people understand that all these manifestations of “liberal values” are a cover for what is happening on the ground. The number of signatories of the open letter about the boycott exceeded five thousand.