J M Coetzee speaks his mind on Israel | Jonathan Cook's Blog
M Coetzee speaks his mind on Israel
The
South African novelist and Nobel-laureate J M Coetzee rarely makes
public statements, so it is great to hear him speaking out on Palestine
on Thursday night in Ramallah at the close of this year’s Palfest
literature festival.
Observing that it is not “a productive step”
to compare Israel’s policies with those of apartheid South Africa,
because it “diverts one into an inflamed, semantic wrangle”, he
continues:
“Apartheid was a system of enforced segregation based
on race or ethnicity put in place by an exclusive self-defined group in
order to consolidate a colonial conquest, in particular to cement its
hold on the land and its natural resources.
“To speak of Jerusalem
and the West Bank, we see a system of enforced segregation based on
religion and ethnicity put in place by an exclusive self-defined group
to consolidate a colonial conquest, in particular to maintain, and
indeed extend, its hold on the land and its natural resources.
“Draw your own conclusions.”
