In September, 80 artists and organizations signed a letter pledging that they would boycott all events and activities sponsored by the UAE because of its deal with Israel.
By HANNAH BROWNBooks(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A group of Arab authors are calling for a boycott of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) and the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, which are both funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to protest Abu Dhabi's decision to normalize ties with Israel, according to Financial Times.Seventeen former IPAF winners, as well as jury members and shortlisted authors wrote a letter in which they appealed to the trustees of the IPAF event to stop taking Emirati funding for the prize to "maintain its independence."Palestinian academic and author Khaled Hroub, a founding member of the IPAF, said he could no longer be associated with the award while it is funded by the UAE and resigned in protest. The UAE’s decision was a “shocking and sad trade-off” for the rights of Palestinians, he told Financial Times.“I used to have great cultural contacts in the UAE over the years, had many Emirati friends and took part in many activities, book fairs and festivals in the country. These activities have certainly contributed to the Arab cultural scene. But all this has now been thrown into uncertainty and replaced by Israel,” he was quoted as saying.Palestinian-Jordanian author Ibrahim Nasrallah, Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury and Moroccan author Bensalem Himmich were also signatories.IPAF was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2007 in co-operation with the Booker Prize Foundation, a UK charity.An IPAF administrator, Fleur Montanaro, said the letter had been received but that no official response had been sent yet.In September, 80 artists and organizations signed a letter pledging that they would boycott all events and activities sponsored by the UAE because of its deal with Israel.But in spite of these boycott calls, the UAE has chosen to create cultural ties with Israel. The Abu Dhabi Film Commission announced two months ago that it signed a cooperation agreement with the Israel Film Fund and the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. The agreement will include planned co-productions and an annual regional film festival that will rotate between Abu Dhabi and Israel. And the UAE and Israel announced a plan Monday that will allow for visa-free travel between the two countries.
