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<span class="post_date" title="2015-11-05">November 5, 2015</span>
<h1 class="headline" itemprop="name"><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/05/co-existence-with-apartheid/"
rel="bookmark">Co-Existence With Apartheid?</a></h1>
<p class="post_meta"> <span class="post_author_intro">by</span> <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/"
rel="nofollow">Ramzy Baroud</a><br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/05/co-existence-with-apartheid/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/05/co-existence-with-apartheid/</a></small></small></b><br>
</span> </p>
<div class="post_content" itemprop="articleBody">
<p>There is a possibility that you have heard of the famed British
author, J K Rowling, writer of the popular fantasy series ‘Harry
Potter’. While I knew of her books –through my teenage kids – I
knew little about the author herself, until recently.</p>
<p>Under an oblique title, “Israel needs cultural bridges, not
boycotts”, Rowling, along with a few celebrity writers, argued
against growing calls for an academic boycott of Israel.</p>
<p>Using generalized, 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 ‘cultural engagement’,
instead. Such engagement, her letter reads, “builds bridges,
nurtures freedom and positive movement for change. We wholly
endorse encouraging such a powerful tool for change, rather than
boycotting its use.”</p>
<p>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. He, too, was badly
injured, together with almost every surviving member of his
family.</p>
<p>“I am sorry Ramzy, I cannot give you exact dates and times to
what has befallen my family,” he messaged me on Skype. “After
July 24, 2014, I lost interest in life and stopped paying
attention to the passing of time.”</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>Will J K Rowling’s call for engagement suffice?</p>
<p>For her, even non-violent acts of encountering Israel’s ongoing
massacres in Gaza and the military occupation in the West Bank
are excessive. “Cultural boycotts singling out Israel are
divisive and discriminatory, and will not further peace,” reads
the letter she signed.</p>
<p>Amnesty International said Israel’s violent response to a
burgeoning uprising in Occupied Palestine appears to have
“ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful
measures.” But with scores of UN resolutions never respected,
Geneva Conventions never honored, and humanitarian laws never
valued, Israel has never followed a rulebook, to begin with.</p>
<p>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 headlines a news
report with “Israeli government to refugees: Go back to Africa
or go to prison”, this is an indicator that Israel has a serious
problem.</p>
<p>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 are beaten by mobs, and abused by police and
discriminated against by the government itself?</p>
<p>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>
<p>“We will be seeking to inform and encourage dialogue about
Israel and the Palestinians in the wider cultural and creative
community,” J K Rowling’s letter reads. Can those ‘creative’
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>
<p>To expect dialogue with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, who has just dehumanized Palestinians further by
accusing them of concocting the Holocaust is not just
impractical, but is the very definition of insanity – seeking
dialogue with a belligerent occupier, over and over again, and
expecting different results.</p>
<p>Fortunately, J K Rowling’s last-minute intervention and her
barely concealed defense of Israel arrives belatedly. A defining
moment is imminent, as hundreds of scholars in her own country
have just enlisted their support for the academic boycott, to be
added to the 100 artists who joined the cultural boycott last
February and hundreds of universities and academicians in the US
who did so last August. These are just a few examples of a
massive, non-violent campaign that targets Israeli academic and
cultural institutions – not individuals – who contribute
directly, or otherwise, to the injustice that is meted out
against Palestinians daily.</p>
<p>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’s country.</p>
<p>Had the famed author achieved her current status during the
height of South Africa’s Apartheid, would she have issued a
similar call, declaring her “support for the launch and aims of
Culture for Co-existence”, 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>
<p>Last February, the letter from the British artistes read, in
part: “During South African apartheid, musicians announced they
weren’t going to ‘play Sun City’. Now we are saying, in Tel
Aviv, Netanya, Ashkelon or Ariel, we won’t play music, accept
awards, attend exhibitions, festivals or conferences, run
masterclasses or workshops, until Israel respects international
law and ends its colonial oppression of the Palestinians.”</p>
<p>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>
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<p class="author_description"> <em><strong>Dr. Ramzy Baroud</strong>
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 latest book is My Father Was a
Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
His website is: ramzybaroud.net</em> </p>
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