We, the German Section of the scholarly organization “Scholars for Peace in the Middle East“ (SPME-Germany) protest the boycott of the 2008 Paris Book Fair by publishers from Arab countries.

This year’s guest of honor is Israel, a country that, since its founding 60 years ago, has had to defend itself against the attacks of its Arab enemies. And yet almost all of its writers, especially those who have been invited to Paris, have extended the hand of peace to their enemies.

The Paris Book Fair was inaugurated in the French capital by Israeli President Shimon Peres, himself the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Therefore this event could have been an opportunity for constructive dialogue between Israeli writers like Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua or Abraham Grossmann and Arab writers such as Tahar ben Yelloun.

The literature of a people is a mirror of its culture. Arab intellectuals who participate in this boycott display a regrettable spiritual poverty toward themselves and the very cultures of their own countries. The French writer Georges Duhamel was right when he said: “Si la civilisation n’est pas dans le coeur de l’homme, eh bien! elle n’est nulle part” (when civilization is not in men’s hearts, then it is nowhere).

We therefore urge those among Arab writers with different views to show their colleagues a new path, to give up this blockade, and to follow the example of their Israeli colleagues on the path to peace.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East – German Section:

Governing Board of SPME-Germany

Diethard Pallaschke, Elvira Grözinger, Matthias Küntzel, Stefanie Galla,
Ralf Schumann, Karl Ernst Roehl, Jörg Rensmann

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East – Austria

Governing Board of SPME-Austria

Ruth Contreras, Brigitte Bailer, Eva Mühlhofer Gurion, Jan Korbelik,
Andreas Peham, Peter Florianschütz, Heimo Gruber

To read the protest note in German click here