Israeli actors take a stand

[xmasdale]

Over 60 actors, playwrights and directors have signed a letter to Israel’s culture minister Limor Livnat refusing to take part in productions by six leading theatre companies at a new cultural centre in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The letter states: “We want to express our dismay with the intention of the theatres’ managements to perform in the new auditorium in Ariel and hereby declare that we will refuse to perform in the city, as in any other settlement.” They also declare that the theatre companies should “pursue their prolific activity inside the sovereign territory of the state of Israel within the boundaries of the Green Line”.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the country was under attack by the international community – including economic, academic and cultural boycotts – and “the last thing we need at this time … is a boycott from within”.

Leading Liberal Israeli commentator Gideon Levy supported the actors’ view. He wrote in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz: “There is a moral difference between appearing here and appearing there in the heart of an illegal settlement … built on a plot of stolen land, in a performance designed to help settlers pass their time pleasantly, while surrounded by people who have been deprived of all their rights.” (Source: The Guardian, UK and Share International)