Latest Posts

Interfaith Leaders Denied Entry to Israel for Supporting Palestinian Human Rights

Five leaders on an interfaith delegation to Israel/Palestine were refused permission to board their plane in the United States, in what appears to be an implementation of Israel’s travel ban on supporters of Palestinian rights and Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS).

Rabbi Alissa Wise: “We were told at check-in that the airline has a letter from the Israeli government saying we are not allowed to fly to Israel. I wasn’t even able to get as far as checking my bag.”

Lettre ouverte à M. le Président de la République française

L’historien israélien Shlomo Sand interpelle Emmanuel Macron sur son discours, tenu en présence de Benjamin Netanyahou, pour la commémoration de la rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv : « L’ancien étudiant en philosophie, l’assistant de Paul Ricœur a-t-il si peu lu de livres d’histoire, au point d’ignorer que nombre de juifs, ou de descendants de filiation juive se sont toujours opposés au sionisme sans, pour autant, être antisémites ? »

Welcome: A letter from Mahmoud Darwish

The renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish was the first writer that the Palestine Festival of Literature approached with a request to be a Founding Patron. He accepted. He was due to speak at PalFest’s inaugural event in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah in May 2008 but medical reasons prevented him from attending. He sent a letter instead. Darwish passed away three months later in August.

The English translation of his 2008 letter features as the opening piece of This Is Not a Border, a newly published collection of essays, diaries and poems marking a decade of PalFest. Darwish’s letter appears online here for the first time.