What began as a powerful anti-Palestinian campaign by a few Zionist organisations and individuals turned into a victory for Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW) and the Palestinian writers who attended.
The sessions featuring the Palestinians, particularly those held in conjunction with Australian First Nations writers, were phenomenally popular; hundreds of people attended these sessions.
As Louise Adler said, “People are free to deeply object. They don’t have to come. Or come, and you don’t need to agree with what people think. But people listened. These steadfast Adelaide audiences came out in their thousands and listened with courtesy and respect for the conversation. It should be something that lifts the spirits of all of us.”
“The definition proposed for adoption by the South Australian parliament is one devised by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (or IHRA). It is a flawed definition because it singles out one group of people for special treatment. This motion is specific to Israel and to Israel only. The motion moved by One Nation’s Sarah Game gives Israel a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
The motion itself determines the ways in which we might be allowed to criticise Israel without finding ourselves labelled as antisemitic.”
"Thousands of Palestinians on Sunday gathered at the mosque for the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. The day coincided with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av, which typically sees an increase in Jewish visitors to the holy site. A large numbers of Palestinians had gathered at the gates of the compound following reports that the police would allow Jewish visitors to enter the site."
"Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has announced the suspension of all agreements signed with Israel. The 84-year-old's declaration on Thursday came after an emergency meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the wake of Israel's demolition this week of several Palestinian buildings in Sur Baher village - a move Abbas described as an act of "ethnic cleansing"."
"Residents of the village's Wadi al-Hummus neighbourhood told local media on Monday that 16 residential buildings with about 100 apartments were being demolished. "Preparations started past midnight as hundreds of armed Israeli occupying soldiers/ bulldozers stormed the town. Families threatened with demolitions were woken up/ moved out of their homes," said a tweet by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)."
"It was a revealing and quite intersecting interview that Jared Kushner had with Jonathan Swan on Axios on HBO aired a week ago. Sawn asked Kushner a few direct questions on his mission as advisor on the Middle East peace negotiations. When Swan asked him if he understands why Palestinians do not trust him, and might not want to talk to him, he simply replied that he doesn’t need their trust: “Look, I am not here to be trusted.”"
"The White House revealed last weekend that the “Deal of the Century,” the administration’s plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and promote peace in the Middle East, will be crafted by and for businessmen. Jared Kushner, a real-estate mogul and son-in-law and senior advisor to President Trump, will launch the plan by convening an “economic workshop” in Bahrain at the end of June."
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