As someone of Palestinian background, I respect Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s principled decision to turns down the offer for a Hebrew translation (from an Israeli-based publisher) of her forthcoming novel, "Beautiful World, Where Are You" due to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
In doing so, Rooney wished to express support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS), a campaign that works to “end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law”.
Here is Rooney’s full statement:
In turn, ‘Palestinians warmly welcomed the Irish author’s refusal to sign a deal with Israeli-based Modan Gefen Publishing
Rooney regards Modan publishing as complicit in Israel’s regime of apartheid, occupation & settler-colonialism which has murdered over 240 Palestinians, in May of this year alone.
Here is a statement from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
As can be expected, not everyone is pleased with the novelist’s social activism & some view it as a misplaced decision on Rooney's part.
Yet, in the past, other high-profile artists have not shied away from taking a similar position to Rooney’s, on moral grounds — such as Pulitzer prize-winning author, Alice Walker, who refused to authorise a Hebrew translation of her novel ‘The Color Purple, in 2012, due to Israel’s “apartheid state”.
In 2018, an open letter published in the Guardian featured artists calling for a boycott of the Eurovision song contest 2019, hosted in Israel at the time.
More recently, earlier this year, the co-founder of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, and celebrated singer-songwriter, Patti Smith, joined over 600 musicians to sign an open letter encouraging artists to boycott performances at Israel’s cultural institutions in order to “support the Palestinian people and their human right to sovereignty and freedom”.
Living in the United States, I find it sad and frustrating, knowing that Israel cannot continue acting with impunity without the moral, financial and military backing of the United States.
Particularly distressing, for example, was the violence that took place just months ago during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, fueled by Jewish settlers plans to evict Palestinian families from their neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
It was distressing to see Israeli police used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets on Palestinians, as they prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with around 300 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces at this holy site in Jerusalem.
Ask yourself, wherever you might be as you read this post:
Could you, peacefully, endure such systematic humiliation while standing, helplessly, as your home and memories were stolen from you?
How much longer can the world allow Israel to play the victim, while they continue to get away with war crimes, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing?
The slogan we heard in the US “No justice, no peace" in connection to Black Lives Matter also applies, here. Palestinian Lives Matter, too.
Until the evictions, unequal rights, and pervasive discrimination in Jerusalem end, clashes will continue.
Hopefully, times are changing and people are waking up to systemic injustice and unafraid to speak truth to power to power, holding corrupt governments accountable.
