Alice Walker, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning novel “The Color Purple,” says she is refusing to allow an Israeli publisher to release her book in Hebrew , because she believes Israel is an “apartheid” state. In a letter she wrote to the Israeli publisher, Walker characterized Israel’s policies as being “far worse” than the U.S. before civil rights . She wrote: As you may know, last Fall in South Africa the Russell Tribunal on Palestine met and determined that Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories. The testimony we heard, both from Israelis and Palestinians (I was a jurist) was devastating. I grew up under American apartheid and this was far worse. Indeed, many South Africans who attended, including Desmond Tutu, felt the Israeli version of these crimes is worse even than what they suffered under the white supremacist regimes that dominated South Africa for so long. It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation. In the past, Walker has voiced even stronger criticism of Israel. Asked last year by Foreign Policy if Hamas was a terrorist group, she answered, “I think Israel is the greatest terrorist in that part of the world. And I think in general, the United States and Israel are great terrorist organizations themselves.” We don’t know about this one. Is Walker’s translation boycott creating a group of second-class readers, millions of Israelis plus Jewish Hebrew speakers overseas apparently not worthy of accessing her award-winning book? Is this a sort of apartheid in and of itself? Was this move anti-Semitic or just merely anti-Israel? Or is Walker just making a statement to help bring attention to the problems in Israel/Palestine? Source
Original post:
Race Matters: Alice Walker Bans Translation Of “The Color Purple” Into Hebrew Because of Israel’s Racist-Apartheid Past
