Dear Chris de Burgh,
In your song Lebanese Nights you
wrote:
All over the world, the gift from before,
Nothing
is left for the children of war…
Since the year 2000 more than 1400 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli
soldiers and illegal colonial settlers. Defence for Children
International estimates that “since the year 2000, around 8,000
Palestinian children have been detained and prosecuted in the system…. The
majority of these children are charged with throwing stones.”
In a report last month (February 2014), Amnesty International declared
that
Israeli
forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of
Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the
past three years with near total impunity…”
These children are indeed “children of war”, but is there
really nothing left for them except “the gift from before”? Do we not owe them our
solidarity, particularly in view of the failure of the international community
to end Israel’s “near total impunity”?
Almost a decade ago, in July 2004, dozens of Palestinian federations,
associations, and civil society organizations "call[ed] upon our colleagues in the international
community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and
cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel's
occupation, colonization and system of apartheid...", and in particular to
"refrain from participation in any form of academic and cultural
cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions"
(note that this call is not directed against individuals).
One year later a more comprehensive call came from some 170
Palestinian civil society organisations for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
against the Israeli state "until Israel meets its obligation to recognize
the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully
complies with the precepts of international law." A year later again, over 100 Palestinian Filmmakers, Artists
and Cultural Workers called for a cultural boycott in similar terms. These
calls from the oppressed constitute a strong mandate.
Recently such famous musicians as Roger Waters (who declared his
"solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine, but also with the many
thousands of Israelis who disagree with their government's racist and colonial
policies, by joining a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against
Israel...") and Elvis Costello ("there are occasions
when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as
a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may
be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent... ")
have refused to perform in Israel.
Not least, at time of writing some 260 Irish creative and performing
artists have signed a pledge undertaking not to accept
invitations to Israel. Musicians constitute the largest single group of
signatories, including Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny, Peadar Ó Riada, Liam Ó Maonlaí,
Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon, and many others from the fields of popular,
traditional, jazz and classical music.
In view of these manifestations of solidarity and concern, your decision to
perform in Tel Aviv on 29th March has been noted with deep disappointment.
It is because our governments refuse to take action to curb Israel’s
crimes, even when enjoined to do so by the International Criminal
Court or indeed by their
own statutes (e.g. article 2 of the Euro-Mediterranean
Association Agreement), that civil society is obliged to call for such harsh tactics as cultural,
sporting and academic boycotts. Such tactics are aimed at bringing to an end
the circumstances that called them into being – in this case, Israel’s
occupation of Palestinian lands, its siege of Gaza (declared illegal by an independent UN panel),
and its policies of apartheid and colonisation.
You may argue that music is “above politics”, but this hardly stands up in view
of a statement by Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, now Director General of the
Israeli Foreign Ministry, that Israel “see[s] culture as a propaganda tool of
the first rank, and… do[es] not differentiate between propaganda and culture.”
(Ha'aretz, 21/09/05). This means that
any artist(e) visiting Israel will be exploited by that state’s very active
propagandists to normalise it and to whitewash its crimes. By cancelling your
projected concert in Tel Aviv you will be joining the likes of Stevie
Wonder, Annie
Lennox, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello and other conscientious musicians in
refusing to be “propaganda tools” for the Israeli state.
But most importantly, by not crossing the
picket line you will be showing the persecuted Palestinians that something is
indeed left for the children of war - hope.
Yours sincerely –
Dr Raymond Deane
Cultural Liaison
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
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