Book Ban Interrupts Use Of Books As A Tool For Peace

This article, "Book Ban Ends Rare Arab-Israeli Cultural Exchange", left me dispirited. An excerpt:

For 15 years Israeli Saleh Abbasi has traded books between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, fostering a rare cultural link.

But in August Israeli authorities suddenly refused to renew his trading license because he was trading with "enemy" states Lebanon and Syria, frustrating both Abbasi's business and the Arab and Israeli readers he has helped interest in each other's literary traditions.

"How can the People of the Book be against books?" Abbasi asked, evoking the Jewish Bible as the first monotheistic holy text. "Books are a bridge to peace between cultures."

An Israeli Trade Ministry spokeswoman declined to explain the timing of the ban. But she cited a recent legal opinion that forbade importing goods from four countries Israel views as enemies -- Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel has no diplomatic ties with Beirut or Damascus, so 57-year-old Abbasi uses Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab nations to sign peace deals with the Jewish state, as conduits.

Abbasi has noticed a shift in Arab readers' tastes in Hebrew books. Last year, he sold over 30,000 copies of seven novels by Israeli writers in 15 Arab countries, including Syria and Lebanon.

"Arab readers ... are over the know-your-enemy mentality. Nowadays they want to know what Israeli novelists write about," Abbasi said.

Prominent Israeli actress Gila Almagor, whose semi-autobiographical novel Abbasi translated into Arabic and sold in Arab countries, said the decision to ban books from Syria and Lebanon was "arbitrary and stupid," especially as translation is funded by Israel's National Lottery.

"When I was told that my book would be translated into Arabic it was very emotional for me," said Almagor, whose book "The Summer of Aviya" depicts her childhood with a mother driven to insanity by their experiences during the Holocaust.

"My story is universal and I always believed that publishing it in Arabic would help give Israel and its people a face, an image other than that of the conflict," Almagor said.

Click here for the whole article.