Another Book Fair Honoring Israel Faces Protests
Book fair faces protests for honouring Israel
(AFP) - Khaleej Times
7 May 2008
ROME - The Turin book fair opening on Thursday, like its Parisian counterpart in March, honours Israel on the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state’s creation, sparking fresh Muslim anger and boycott calls.
Writer and professor Tariq Ramadan on Monday criticised the planned presence of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the fair, saying his attendance would make it ‘a political and not a cultural event.’
Ahead of the five-day expo, several Muslim writers, intellectuals and artists as well as the Free Palestine association staged a two-day protest seminar at the University of Turin titled ‘Western Democracies and Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine.’
[Oh, I'm pretty sure that if Israel was really engaged in 'ethnic cleansing,' there wouldn't be any of those irritating, whiny Islamic squatters left to complain about it...]
Free Palestine is also planning a protest on Saturday.
Security has been tightened for this year’s event in Turin, coming two months after the Paris book fair which was inaugurated by Israeli President Shimon Peres and marred by a bomb threat that forced an hour-long evacuation of the venue.
Ramadan, who is backing the boycott calls, is the grandson of Hassan El-Banna, the Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Sunni Islamist movement.
He said last week that he would not ‘offer his support to 60 years of a policy of oppression of the Palestinian people.’
[Of course, being Egyptian, he conveniently omits Egypt's role in seizing land allocated to the Islamic Squatters and then forgets to mention that pesky little border wall between Egypt and Gaza that keeps the Islamic Squatters out of Egypt... No love there, buddy!]
Several Arab and Muslim countries and writers’ groups boycotted the Paris book fair.
The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation had called on its 50 member states to stay away, arguing that Israel’s ‘crimes against humanity’ in the Palestinian territories make it ‘unworthy’ of such an honour.
[Sounds like professional jealousy to me....]
Muslim critics say Israel should not be rewarded in this manner while it faces international outrage over its actions in the Palestinian territories.
[And, of course, NO balanced reporting going on here by the AFP! No mention of the almost daily attacks on Israeli citizens by the Islamic Squatters. No mention of Israel's RIGHT to the land. No mention of Israel's endless concessions to the Islamic Squatters in an effort to resolve this manufactured conflict... Etc. etc... I could go on and on... Obviously, the AFP reporter who wrote this article isn't even attempting to hide his/her bias...]
7 May, 2008 at 9:57 am
I always enjoy hearing how oppressed the palestinians are in Israel. Those people had better hope Israel hangs around because otherwise those “poor” people will get to live in a bigger version of Gaza. And who in their right mind would want to live like the crazy Gazans?