Raymond Deane: Some day a German president will be forced to kneel down and crave forgiveness from the Palestinians, the way Willy Brandt did in Warsaw in another context – from which the German state has learned nothing.
‘Kamila Shamsie condemned the decision in a statement sent to MEE by email, and said she was saddened that the jury had bowed to pressure.
“In the just-concluded Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to annex up to one third of the West Bank, in contravention of international law, and his political opponent Benny Gantz’s objection to this was that Netanyahu had stolen his idea; this closely followed the killing of two Palestinian teenagers by Israeli forces – which was condemned as ‘appalling’ by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process,” she said.
“In this political context, the jury of the Nelly Sachs prize has chosen to withdraw the award from me on the basis of my support for a non-violent campaign to bring pressure on the Israeli government.
“It is a matter of great sadness to me that a jury should bow to pressure and withdraw a prize from a writer who is exercising her freedom of conscience and freedom of expression; and it is a matter of outrage that the BDS movement (modelled on the South African boycott) that campaigns against the government of Israel for its acts of discrimination and brutality against Palestinians should be held up as something shameful and unjust.”
Shamsie told MEE that she asked Dortmund’s city council to include her statement in their official press release, but they refused.’ [Thus adding to their undying shame.] More here.