Approximately 2,000 pastoralist herders and farmers live in caves carved out of the hillside south of Hebron. Their way of life is unique in Palestine, as they have survived by farming the rocky hillsides and tending their flocks for at least 170 years.

In the south hills of Hebron, ever since Jewish settlers arrived to colonize the region, we witness a comprehensive and ongoing policy of mass deportation of Palestinians from the area in order to create space for the expansion of surrounding Israeli settlements.

The main settlements surrounding the area—Susya, Karmel, Maon and Yatir—are known to be inhabited by some of the most militant and violent settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The area was originally inhabited by a small Palestinian population of approximately 2,000 pastoralist herders and farmers living in caves carved out of the hillside, hence, their designation as “cave dwellers.” Their way of life is unique in Palestine, as they have survived by farming the rocky hillsides and tending their flocks for at least 170 years. Before this, they were poor Palestinian families living in villages in the southern Hebron region, who bought land 20 kilometers away. About two centuries ago, they started to live in caves spread out across the area, gaining their livelihood from the mountains and surrounding fields. Some generations later they succeed in developing a culture and a way of living based on sheep herding, agriculture and cave dwelling.

However, since the occupation of the region by Israel in 1967, the Israeli authorities have been confiscating their land, first using military justifications and then for the purpose of building and expanding settlements. 

The first International Writers Festival is scheduled to take place 11-15 May 2008 in Jerusalem, just three days after Israel’s official celebrations of 60 years of independence.

Local and international activists have been active in urging a boycott of the International Writers’ Festival in Jerusalem, slated for 11-15 May, particularly by the distinguished international writers scheduled to participate in this event.

As previously noted, it is not possible that Israel continues to deny the human and national rights of the Palestinian people, to impose a deadly siege on the Gaza Strip and publicly flaunt its international political commitments by building additional settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, while its authors and cultural figures are honored with visits by distinguished international authors. Israeli society must be told loudly and clearly that it cannot act with complete impunity toward the Palestinian people and still enjoy privileges and honors of a law-abiding state.

Given that most Israeli authors and other cultural figures have deep concern for the opinions of and working relationships with international authors, this boycott can potentially make a substantial impact within Israeli society.

The Alternative Information Center calls on activists to continue contacting the authors scheduled to participate and urge them to cancel their participation in solidarity and support for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Contact information for authors; if you have additional information or have received a response from any of the participating authors, please let us know so we can update others:  

Nadine Gordimer: May be contacted via her publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing (Telephone: +44 (20) 7494 2111; Postal address: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY).

BRICUP is an organisation of UK based academics, set up in response to the Palestinian Call for Academic Boycott.

Note: For background information about the first annual International Writers Festival in Jerusalem, click here and here. 

Dear Nadine Gordimer:

Many of us who paid attention to, and valued, your writing during the dark days of apartheid are dismayed to see that you are participating in the International Writers Festival in Israel in May.

It can only send a dispiriting message to the Palestinians that a writer of your moral standing and international renown is prepared to appear in a city at least half of which is under illegal military occupation by a state founded on ethnic cleansing.   ('Ethnic cleansing' isn't just our term—it's what Israeli historian Ilan Pappe says he has finally accepted is the most accurate description for what Israeli forces did to the Palestinians in 1948.)

Think of a Palestinian villager in the occupied West Bank—hemmed in by Israeli army roadblocks, cut off from her fields by the Wall, the water in her wells drained by a nearby settlement, some of her sons and daughters in prison without charge or trial, her other children unable to leave the village to go to school.   There are hundreds of thousands like her.   In this context, isn’t it a contradiction to be sitting in occupied Jerusalem, discussing the morality and responsibility of 'the writer' with Amos Oz?

An Israeli soldier standing over a Palestinian under arrest.

Today, the 17^th of April, Palestinians commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day to remind both the international and the local publics that thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children, are currently imprisoned in Israeli military jails, often following administrative detention, and exposed to various forms of torture and inhumane treatments. Every year on the 17^th of April is used to raise awareness about the situation of Palestinian prisoners.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners is a crucial one in Palestinian society, directly affecting thousands of prisoners and their families psychologically, socially and economically.

According to official human rights organizations working on the issue of prisoners, such as the Mandela Institute, there are today approximately 11 thousand Palestinians prisoners detained in Israeli military prisons, all tried in military courts and sentenced by military judges. These military prisons inside Israeli territories were built in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which obligates the occupying power not to deport prisoners from their land. Defendants are often convicted on secret evidence and are sentenced to disproportionately long sentences. 

According to the Mandela Institute, 920 of the prisoners are at this time under administrative detention. This form of detention, established by military orders, allows the Israeli military to arbitrarily arrest and detain Palestinian civilians for periods of six months. Every six month period can then be extended for an additional six months without further explanation.  This policy allows the military to exercise broad and unchecked powers against Palestinian society. According to the Mandela Institute, around 1,300 of these prisoners need medical care, which is often not provided.