L’auteur juif américain Michael Chabon s’en prend à l’occupation israélienne

/L-auteur-juif-americain-Michael-Chabon-

  • Jewish American author Chabon takes on Israeli occupation | AFP.com | 3 May 2016
    https://www.afp.com/en/news/206/jewish-american-author-chabon-takes-israeli-occupation

    American author Michael Chabon’s Jewish identity has long been central to his work.

    From 2001’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” — the story of two Jewish cousins before, during and after World War II — to 2007’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”, Chabon’s novels have delved into what it means to be Jewish, especially in America.

    Like many American Jews, Chabon has also long felt a connection to Israel, visiting the country first in 1992 with his Israeli-born wife, fellow author Ayelet Waldman.

    But his most recent visit, which included a trip to the Palestinian territories with a number of prominent American authors, has raised hackles among some in the Jewish state.

    Its aim was to raise awareness of the effects of Israel’s occupation of the territories, an issue Chabon says should be of particular resonance to Jews.

    “Part of what makes it uniquely horrible for me and what makes it distinct from apartheid is it is being done by Jews. I am a Jew,” he told AFP by telephone after returning to the United States following last month’s trip.

    “(For) a people who went through such a horrific, prolonged persecution, to turn around and eventually oppress another people at such a mass bureaucratic level is somehow to me much more dismaying than apartheid — as horrible as apartheid was, and I am not trying to diminish it.”

    Chabon’s decision to become involved in campaigning against the occupation was steered by Waldman after a visit to the country of her birth two years ago.

    – ’Grievous injustice’ -

    “She felt much more connected at a root level than she had ever expected,” he said. “In a way that was a dismaying moment for her. She felt ’If I am going to feel at home here, then I also have to take on this occupation.’”

    Last month’s tour saw writers including Dave Eggers and Pulitzer winner Geraldine Brooks meet Palestinians in east Jerusalem, Hebron and villages near Ramallah. Eggers also travelled to the Gaza Strip.