THE NOVELIST Ian McEwan will criticise Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land in his speech accepting the Jerusalem Prize for literature tomorrow evening, saying the open and democratic nature of novels is antithetical to the government’s settlement policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
He will refer to "a strand of nihilism which is closing off the future here", he told the Guardianshortly after his arrival in Israel for the ceremony. His attendance has drawn bitter criticism from supporters of the Palestinian cause.
The author yesterday took part in the weekly protest in Sheikh Jarrah, an area of East Jerusalem which has seen Jewish settlers evict Palestinian residents to take over their homes and establish hardline footholds in the Arab part of the city.
In the company of celebrated Israeli author David Grossman, McEwan spoke to activists who told him they appreciated his presence. “The welcome I had from various strands of the Israeli peace movement completely vindicated my decision to come,” he said. “They feel the tide is running against them. I feel it’s very important to support that important hope and conscience. It was very stirring.”
McEwan attempted to get close to the homes from which long-term Palestinian residents have been expelled by settlers but was prevented by Israeli security forces. “But I got a good sense of how Palestinian families are waiting to be evicted,” he said, adding they faced a “relentless tide”.
He said he intended to “make my own thoughts clear” when accepting the prize from Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, an enthusiastic advocate of expanding the Jewish presence in the east of the city. McEwan said he planned to make further visits to East Jerusalem and the West Bank during his stay.
Earlier, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, the author described Israel as a “country with true democracy of opinion” and defended his decision to receive the award saying it was “much more useful to come and engage and keep speaking” than to boycott Israel over its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
“I am very conscious of being in a country with a true democracy of opinion,” he said. “I am perfectly aware that you cannot isolate [literature] but I take it as a bad sign when politics permeates every corner of life. I don’t feel I endorse every corner of Israel’s domestic or foreign policy . . . but I feel it’s right to engage with it.”
He said it was a great honour to be awarded the prize, to be presented at the Jerusalem’s International Book Fair, pointing to past recipients as “writers and philosophers of such distinction”.
“Like most people, I want Israel to flourish. I’m very concerned that things have reached such a stalemate politically. It seems to me to be a rather depressing time politically to come here – but that makes it all the more urgent to keep talking.”
McEwan faced calls in the UK to reject the prize in protest at Israel's continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. In a letter to the Guardianlast month, British Writers in Support of Palestine said the writer's acceptance of an award in recognition of individual freedom in society was "a cruel joke and a propaganda tool for the Israeli state".
The author responded by saying that despite his opposition to illegal settlements, he was in favour of "dialogue, engagement, and looking for ways in which literature . . . can reach across political divides". – ( Guardian services)