PACBI Statement

Letter to the EUROPEAid on Proposed Joint Palestinian Israeli Film Project

December 25, 2005
Catherine COLOMB-NANCY Europeaid Office de Cooopération A Rue de la Loi, 200 B-1049 Bruxelles Belgique [email]catherine.colomb-nancy@cec.eu.int[/email] Dear Ms.

Catherine COLOMB-NANCY
Europeaid Office de Cooopération A
Rue de la Loi, 200
B-1049 Bruxelles
Belgique

[email]catherine.colomb-nancy@cec.eu.int[/email]

Dear Ms. Catherine Colomb-Nancy,

It has come to our attention that the Ramallah Film Institute, a Palestinian organization operating in Ramallah, together with the New Foundation for Cinema and Television, an Israeli organization operating in Tel Aviv and founded by the Israeli Ministry of Arts, have submitted a joint proposal to the Euromed Audiovisual II, that has recently been short listed.

We in the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) would like to express our concern that such a project/ partnership is sponsored by the EU. As Palestinians, we continue to suffer from a 38 year-old Israeli occupation; we continue to witness on a daily basis Israel’s violation of international law and abuse of our basic human rights.

A partnership cannot be one, if one of the partners is occupying the other. It is impossible for Palestinian film makers to produce films that reflect or challenge their reality within a framework that obliges them to work together with Israelis -- who do not take a clear position against the occupation -- ignoring the fact that they themselves are suffering from this occupation.

We, as members of the civil society initiative for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS (please see attached Call and list of endorsers), are distressed by such a project that imposes an unrealistic condition on the expression of Palestinian art and culture.

We kindly call upon you to freeze such a project or to reformulate it in such a way that allows a trusted Palestinian organization to partner with a country other than Israel in the Euro-Med region.

Such a project, if it is allowed to continue with the current partners, will not be well received within the Palestinian community. Various individuals and organizations will be obliged to boycott it as part of a national consensus not to take part in such politically motivated partnerships.

We hope that you will take our concerns as well as those we represent into consideration.

Respectfully,

PACBI
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Ramallah
Palestine
[email]info@BoycottIsrael.ps[/email]

December 25, 2005
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