The Israeli Arab holder of Israel’s most prestigious national prize this week harshly attacked Israel’s policies toward its Arab citizens and termed it a “colonialist” state.
Emile Habibi, winner of the 1992 Israel Prize for Arab Literature, spoke at the opening session of a three-day symposium on censorship sponsored by the Netherlands branch of the Index on Censorship foundation and the Dutch daily Het Parool.
Habibi, whose openly nationalistic views made him a controversial selection for Israel’s top award, said Israel treated its Arab citizens as “hostages and bandits.” He compared the intifada uprising in the territories to the non- violent resistance led by Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi in India.
He described as his “most bitter hour” his acceptance of the Israel Prize last May from the Israeli government headed by Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and said he had accepted it only at the insistence of both Arab and Jewish friends.
The 71-year-old writer reportedly received the blessing of Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat before accepting the award. He said he had donated the prize money to the Palestinian Red Crescent in the Gaza Strip.
A former member of Israel’s Communist Party, Habibi welcomed the upsurge of nationalism in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans, saying it boosted Palestinian confidence in winning an independent state.
Habibi said censorship continued to exist in Israel. He cited as evidence the conviction of Mordechai Vanunu for espionage and treason after the former employee of the Dimona nuclear facility provided information and photographs to a British paper, and Israel’s attempt to prevent publication of a “tell-all” book by former Mossad employee Victor Ostrovski.
British Jewish playwright Harold Pinter complained of censorship in his own country when he said most papers had declined to publish his poem “American Football,” which sharply criticized the U.S. role in the Persian Gulf War.
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