Israeli police shut Palfest for second time
29.05.09 | Katie Allen
The Palestinian Festival of Literature (Palfest) has been shut down for the second time this week by armed Israeli police. UK participants at the festival include Deborah Moggach, Michael Palin and Henning Mankell.
The week-long festival, sited in the Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem, was shut down on the opening night (23rd May) by Israeli police closing the venue. The authors returned to the venue yesterday (28th May) after a week of touring events to it again closed and armed police dispersing people.
The festival is supported by the British Council and UNESCO. The event has now moved to the offices of the British Council in East Jerusalem.
Ahdaf Soueif, chair and founder of Palfest, said: "The action taken by the Israeli army in closing down our theatre twice has just made a tangible reality of our Palfest motto; we continue to face the culture of power with the power of culture." Moggach said: "I was utterly appalled that this happened all over again"
Richard Makepeace, British Consul General, said: "It is obviously regrettable that this happened, but I don't want to talk politics. This is a cultural event that we are very proud to support . . . we want to follow up and build up our work in cultural links with the people of Palestine—this is the work of the British Council."
According to the Guardian, Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said the event on Monday (23rd) was closed down because Israel believed it was organised or funded by the Palestinian Authority.
Comments on this article
By ross bradshaw
Lift foot carefully, take aim, fire. Well done Israeli Defense Force.31 May 09 20:02
By Ross
Lovely, Israel. Do such actions remind you of anything or anyone? No, thought not. Nevertheless we will continue to be bombarded by Holocaust books and films. Very odd.01 Jun 09 11:19
