{"id":66224,"date":"2015-11-09T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=66224"},"modified":"2015-11-09T11:20:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T11:20:27","slug":"sorry-jk-rowling-youre-wrong-over-the-israel-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/11\/sorry-jk-rowling-youre-wrong-over-the-israel-boycott\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, JK Rowling, You\u2019re Wrong over the Israel Boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"

3 Nov 2015 – <\/em>There is a possibility that you have heard of the famed British author, J.K. Rowling, writer of the popular fantasy series \u2018Harry Potter\u2019. While I knew of her books \u2013 through my teenage kids \u2013 I knew little about the author herself, until recently.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What is appropriate for South Africa should be appropriate for Palestine even if J K Rowling find that too objectionable.<\/p><\/div>\n

Using generalised, ambiguous terminology that offered little by way of compelling Israel to end its ongoing Occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank, genocide and siege in Gaza and protracted institutional discrimination against Arabs and other minorities in Israel, she argued for \u2018cultural engagement\u2019, instead. Such engagement, her letter reads, \u201cbuilds bridges, nurtures freedom and positive movement for change. We wholly endorse encouraging such a powerful tool for change, rather than boycotting its use.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author seems disconnected from the reality of life under Israeli Occupation. On the day of writing this article, I spoke to Ismail Abu Aitah, a young man from Gaza who lost both his parents, his brothers, and one of his nephews when Israel blew up their house in the 2014 summer war<\/a>. He, too, was badly injured, together with almost every surviving member of his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry Ramzy, I cannot give you exact dates and times to what has befallen my family,\u201d he messaged me on Skype. \u201cAfter July 24, 2014, I lost interest in life and stopped paying attention to the passing of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How is one to console Ismail? How is one to console the families of over 2,200 Palestinians killed in the last war; the over 400 in the previous war and over 1,430 in the one before that, in addition to the tens of thousands of wounded and maimed? Not forgetting the many killed in the West Bank this October alone, some executed point blank<\/a>?<\/p>\n

For her, even non-violent acts of encountering Israel\u2019s ongoing massacres in Gaza and the military occupation in the West Bank are excessive. \u201cCultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory, and will not further peace,\u201d reads the letter she signed.<\/p>\n

Amnesty International said Israel\u2019s violent response to a burgeoning uprising in Occupied Palestine appears to have \u201cripped up the rulebook<\/a> and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures.\u201d But with scores of UN resolutions never respected, Geneva Conventions never honoured, and humanitarian laws never valued, Israel has never followed a rulebook<\/a>, to begin with.<\/p>\n

Racism in Israel is so rife that being dark skinned in that country can be a terrifying experience. When a mainstream American newspaper like the Washington Post<\/em> headlines a news report<\/a> with \u201cIsraeli government to refugees: Go back to Africa or go to prison\u201d, this is an indicator that Israel has a serious problem.<\/p>\n

If J K Rowling and her peers do not see an urgency in standing up for millions of Palestinians who are enduring daily deaths and discrimination (as they have for 67 years), what is their reaction to the violence against Africans and dark-skinned people, who arebeaten by mobs<\/a>, and abused by police<\/a> and discriminated against by the government itself<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Imagine life being a thousand-fold worse for Palestinians, a nation that is forced to choose between two terrible fates: permanent destitution and exile on the one hand, or a perpetual war and occupation on the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be seeking to inform and encourage dialogue about Israel and the Palestinians in the wider cultural and creative community,\u201d J K Rowling\u2019s letter reads. Can those \u2018creative\u2019 elites possibly be any more disconnected from reality to the extent that they perceive a nation that stands accused of violating human rights with such impunity for nearly seven decades as one that simply needs a nudge to dialogue?<\/p>\n

To expect dialogue with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has just dehumanised Palestinians further by accusing them of concocting the Holocaust<\/a> is not just impractical, but is the very definition of insanity \u2013 seeking dialogue with a belligerent occupier, over and over again, and expecting different results.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, J K Rowling\u2019s last-minute intervention and her barely concealed defence of Israel arrives belatedly. A defining moment is imminent, as hundreds of scholars in her own country<\/a> have just enlisted their support for the academic boycott, to be added to the 100 artists who joined the cultural boycott<\/a> last February and hundreds of universities and academicians in the US<\/a> who did so last August. These are just a few examples of a massive, non-violent campaign that targets Israeli academic and cultural institutions \u2013 not individuals \u2013 who contribute directly, or otherwise, to the injustice that is meted out against Palestinians daily.<\/p>\n

The scholars from the UK, exceeding 300 and the last to join the boycott campaign were, like thousands more, guided by the spirit of the struggle against the former Apartheid South African government. The latter was overcome largely because of the struggle and steadfastness of the South African people and also aided by morally-guided actions of boycotters all around the world, which included J K Rowling\u2019s country.<\/p>\n

Had the famed author achieved her current status during the height of South Africa\u2019s Apartheid, would she have issued a similar call, declaring her \u201csupport for the launch and aims of Culture for Co-existence\u201d, rather than demanding an end to Apartheid, even if it meant severing ties with Apartheid government institutions? At this point, the answer is uncertain.<\/p>\n

Last February, the letter from the British artistes read, in part: \u201cDuring South African apartheid, musicians announced they weren\u2019t going to \u2018play Sun City\u2019. Now we are saying, in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Ashkelon or Ariel, we won\u2019t play music, accept awards, attend exhibitions, festivals or conferences, run master classes or workshops, until Israel respects international law and ends its colonial oppression of the Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is appropriate for South Africa should be appropriate for Palestine, too, even if J K Rowling and her respected peers find that too objectionable.<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

Ramzy Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter. He has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books, and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include <\/em>Searching Jenin, <\/em>The Second Palestinian Intifada, and his latest, <\/em>My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza\u2019s Untold Story. Visit his website: www.ramzybaroud.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 ramzybaroud.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is appropriate for South Africa should be appropriate for Palestine, too, even if J K Rowling and her respected peers find that too objectionable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}