South African writer JM Coetzee has declined to attend a prominent Jerusalem literary festival over Israel’s “genocidal campaign in Gaza.”
The Nobel laureate, who said he previously considered himself a supporter of Israel, addressed a letter to the Jerusalem International Writers Festival artistic director, Julia Fermentto-Tzaisler, in November, as seen by the Guardian, in which he outlined his reasons for not attending the May event.
“For the past two years the state of Israel has been conducting a genocidal campaign in Gaza that has been vastly disproportionate to the murderous provocation of 7 October 2023,” he wrote.
“This campaign, conducted by the [Israeli army], appears to have had the enthusiastic support of the vast majority of Israel’s population.
“For this reason it is not possible for any considerable sector of Israeli society, including its intellectual and arts community, to claim that it should not share in the blame for the atrocities in Gaza.”
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Coetzee, who won the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, visited Jerusalem in 1987 to receive the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society.
At the event, he called for the end of apartheid in South Africa, a state of racial segregation that rights organisations say now exists in Israel-Palestine.
“Long-time supporters of Israel have turned away in revulsion at the actions of the Israeli military,” wrote Coetzee.
“It will take many years for Israel to clear its name, assuming that it wishes to do so, and to re-establish itself in the international community.”
‘It is not possible for any considerable sector of Israeli society, including its intellectual and arts community, to claim that it should not share in the blame for the atrocities in Gaza’
– JM Coetzee
Army Radio reported last week that Israel had expanded its control of the Gaza Strip to nearly 60 percent of the territory despite a nominal ceasefire, as it prepares for a possible resumption of the war.
Senior military officials, cited by the broadcaster, said they are pressing to restart fighting, arguing that now is the optimal moment to defeat Hamas.
Operational plans for renewed attacks have been completed, the report said, with a final decision pending approval from Israel’s political leadership.
The military has also reduced forces in southern Lebanon while redeploying brigades to Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The US brokered a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in October, intended to end Israel’s two-year genocide by halting attacks and allowing humanitarian aid to flow into the territory.
However, Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 832 Palestinians in near-daily shelling, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Restrictions on aid, medicine and equipment entering Gaza since the ceasefire have exacerbated the spread of disease, hunger and dire conditions for the two million displaced population.
Overall, Israeli forces have killed more than 72,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Thousands more remain missing and beneath rubble.
