The Book Fair

Ibrahim al-Moallem, chairman of the Egyptian Writers Union and secretary general of the Union of Arab Writers, speaking on 24 February in Cairo, from the choice of Israel as a guest of honour at Book Fair Paris.
Ibrahim al-Moallem, chairman of the Egyptian Writers Union and secretary general of the Union of Arab Writers, speaking on 24 February in Cairo, from the choice of Israel as a guest of honour at Book Fair Paris. Photo credits: AFP
The choice of Israel as a guest of honour at the 28th edition of the Book Fair (13-19 March) is strongly criticized by States and part of the Arab literary world.
"READ - Israeli writers in misunderstanding
"READ - Lebanon: the division reign

Two weeks before the opening of the Book Fair, Porte de Versailles, Paris, the controversy swells. The choice of Israel as a guest of honour, by the National Union of publishing, crystallizes the criticism in the Arab world while we are celebrating this year the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state.

In Rabat, early this week, the organization pan Isesco (Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture) drew its fifty member countries to boycott the Salon du Livre de Paris. The Union of Palestinian Writers invited publishing houses Arab and Palestinian not to go to the event. The Yemen (which does not stand) and Lebanon (see below) have already announced that they would follow these words. Publishers from Algeria and Morocco will also be absent from the stands, although some say they will "on an individual basis."

The Egyptian writer Alaa al-Aswani, author of the international best-selling novel The Yacoubian Building, and an American of Palestinian origin Susan Abulhawa denounce violently, in turn, the presence of Israel as a guest of honor, while claiming that they will come anyway at the Salon.

Spirit of Transparency

As for Serge Eyrolles, president of the National Union of publishing and exhibition company, said he was "deeply disappointed by the excessive politicization of the event. I say and I repeat: for fifteen years, the Book Fair does not invite the country! He invited the literature. We n'invitons not Israel but the Israeli literature, a literature dynamic of immense wealth. "

Thirty-nine Israeli writers of all generations, Aharon Appelfeld at Etgar Keret, as well as some leading figures Amos Oz and David Grossman, will attend Porte de Versailles, from 14 to 19 March. On 13, the inauguration will be held in the presence of President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres. The organizers of the Salon insist on the "totally disconnected from the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. We have even proposed in late 2007, to organize, with the help of the Arab World Institute (IMA) now headed by Dominique Baudis, an Arabic Book Fair, which reportedly took place on the same dates as the Book Fair Paris.

"Although our efforts have been unsuccessful, it shows our spirit of transparency, said Serge Eyrolles. Furthermore, the Israelis have a booth at the Book Fair last decade. Until now, this had no publisher shocked Arabic. My feeling is that we are victims of a boycott campaign completely disproportionate. "SNE says that" security measures for the event will be maximum. " "I can not tell you more," Eyrolles, but be aware that we do not want to take any risks with public safety. "

Faced with criticism from Arab-Muslim world, the french minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, who found a boycott of the Salon by the Arab Writers' extremely regrettable, "is one of the few to have reacted in the political class. Intellectuals and writers at the moment are strangely absent from this debate. A discretion contrasts with the indignant reactions that followed, Italy, the call for a boycott of the Turin Book Fair, which Israel is also the guest of honour next May