- “The union rejects the participation of any Palestinian artist in the rally, and it will expel any artist who is proven to have participated in any ceremony or festival whose goal is to create normalization with the occupation”
Before the festival, the union of Palestinian artists announced that it would “expel” any Palestinian artist who participated in the festival:
Jibril Rajoub, then Deputy Secretary of Fatah’s Central Committee and Head of the Palestinian Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs:
When a Sudanese minister recently spoke in favor of “normalization with Israel,” his statements led to “Palestinian anger” and “condemnation”:
In an interview with Sudania 24 TV on Aug. 20, 2017, Sudanese Minister of Investment Mubarak Al-Mahdi said: “There is no problem normalizing relations with Israel; the Palestinians normalized relations with Israel, even Hamas is talking to Israel. The Palestinians receive tax money from Israel and electricity from Israel. The Palestinians sit with Israel and talk to Israel. They have disputes but they sit with them.” He also stated that: “The Arab countries trafficked in the Palestinian issue for domestic purposes. The Palestinian issue has held back the Arab world and Arab regimes are taking advantage of it to oppress their own peoples in the name of the struggle for Palestine.” [Haaretz, Aug. 22, 2017]
Read more examples of the PA and Fatah’s rejection of “normalization with the enemy” in PMW’s archives.
The following is a longer excerpt of the article about the Palestinian Artist Union’s boycott of the Israeli festival:
Green Line – 1949-1967 ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) following Israel’s War of Independence (1948-1949). Land within the Green Line is all part of the State of Israel since 1949. Land outside the Green Line includes East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.