Jerusalem (AFP)

Literary prizes and cultural events sponsored by the United Arab Emirates have recorded for several weeks the defections of Arab artists and intellectuals, who intend to protest against the agreement to normalize relations with Israel and support the Palestinian cause.

"Considering that if art is not closely linked to humanitarian and justice issues, it has no value, I am canceling my participation in your exhibition," wrote Palestinian photographer Mohamed Badarne to the foundation of art from Sharjah, one of the seven emirates of the Federation.

On August 13, the Emirates announced to normalize their relations with Israel under an agreement negotiated by the United States, to become the first Gulf country and the third Arab country to establish official ties with the Jewish state, after Egypt and Jordan.

The Palestinians cried treason, arguing that peace between Palestinians and Israel must be a prerequisite for any normalization, not the other way around.

Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abou Seif called on Arab intellectuals to stand against a move that "strengthens the enemy" of Israel.

Based in Berlin, Mohamed Badarne quickly made the decision to withdraw from the exhibition in Sharjah.

"As a people under occupation, we must take a stand against anything to do with reconciliation with the Israeli" occupier, he added to AFP.

- A sin" -

On social networks, personalities from the cultural world from several Arab countries such as Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia but also the Emirates, denounced the position of Abu Dhabi.

“A sad and catastrophic day,” Emirati writer Dhabiya Khamis said on Facebook when the deal was announced.

"No to normalization between Israel and the Emirates, and the countries of the Arab Gulf! Israel is the enemy of the entire Arab nation," she said.

The Emirates have invested colossal sums in the cultural sector in recent years, notably with the opening at the end of 2017 of a branch of the Parisian Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi.

Several literary awards are funded by the rich oil country, such as the Sheikh Zayed Prize, named after the former Emirati president.

Moroccan novelist Zohra Ramij, who is in the running for her novel "The waiting room", announced her withdrawal "in solidarity with the Palestinian people".

The Moroccan poet Mohammed Bennis has withdrawn from the organizing committee of the prize.

"It would be a sin to get an Emirati award," considers Palestinian author Ahmed Abou Salim, who for his part withdrew from the competition for the International Prize for Arab Fiction (IPAF).

"I am an intellectual supporter of the Palestinian cause, whatever the price to pay," he told AFP.

Supported by the Booker Prize foundation in London, this prize is funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.

In a letter, former laureates and jury members called on IPAF officials to no longer accept Emirati funding.

One of the signatories of the text, Palestinian intellectual Khaled Hroub, told AFP that he had also withdrawn from the jury.

Contacted, IPAF did not react.

- Emirati money -

These various boycotts are "a natural and patriotic response from Arab intellectuals," said Omar Barghouti, one of the Palestinian leaders of the BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions).

And if some think they can take advantage of the Israeli-Emirati agreement, "they will see their companies (...) boycotted", he warns.

This movement, accused of anti-Semitism by Israel, calls for an economic, cultural or scientific boycott of the Jewish state, in order to obtain an end to the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian Territories.

Palestinian poet Ali Mawassi points out that even when states decide to normalize their relations, populations do not necessarily feel obliged to do the same.

Most Egyptian and Jordanian artists "still refuse to associate with anything related to Israel."

But according to the poet, "there are many artists who will remain silent, (...) to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by Emirati money".

© 2020 AFP