Sousan Hammad, The Electronic Intifada, 4 June 2009
"....Because the writers were aware of Israel's unjust treatment toward Palestinians, organizers agreed that to get a legitimate feel of Palestine they would travel as "Palestinians." This meant the caravan of writers dealt with the cattle-trade of checkpoints, interrogations, and more.
"We wanted the writers to travel how Palestinians travel. We didn't want them to have special treatment," Hamilton said......
But the law-making chimeras of Israel, it turns out, were not amused, and writers witnessed -- on a scale unprecedented to what Palestinians face every day -- Israel's draconian measures.
Minutes prior to the festival's start, armed Israeli police barricaded the National Theatre with a court order to shut the literature festival down. In badly written Arabic, the court order posted on the theater's door declared the festival illegal, according to Article 3A of a 1994 Interim Agreement, which determines the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot open or operate a representative mission in the area considered to be the State of Israel without written permission by Israel.
Despite the festival having no connection to the PA, the theater's doors were locked and festival organizers, participants and attendees hastily relocated to a different venue where everyone helped set up chairs in the garden of the French Cultural Center......."
"....Because the writers were aware of Israel's unjust treatment toward Palestinians, organizers agreed that to get a legitimate feel of Palestine they would travel as "Palestinians." This meant the caravan of writers dealt with the cattle-trade of checkpoints, interrogations, and more.
"We wanted the writers to travel how Palestinians travel. We didn't want them to have special treatment," Hamilton said......
But the law-making chimeras of Israel, it turns out, were not amused, and writers witnessed -- on a scale unprecedented to what Palestinians face every day -- Israel's draconian measures.
Minutes prior to the festival's start, armed Israeli police barricaded the National Theatre with a court order to shut the literature festival down. In badly written Arabic, the court order posted on the theater's door declared the festival illegal, according to Article 3A of a 1994 Interim Agreement, which determines the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot open or operate a representative mission in the area considered to be the State of Israel without written permission by Israel.
Despite the festival having no connection to the PA, the theater's doors were locked and festival organizers, participants and attendees hastily relocated to a different venue where everyone helped set up chairs in the garden of the French Cultural Center......."
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