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Riot police were out in force yesterday for the opening of the annual Paris book fair in an effort to prevent trouble at a show that has become embroiled in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Iran and as many as ten Arab states are boycotting the annual showcase of the French publishing industry because, this year, it is honouring Israel's Hebrew-language writers. President Peres opened the event, which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Israel.

The invitation to Israeli writers and the apparent French celebration of the anniversary has caused a storm in the Muslim world, which saw it as an anti-Arab provocation. Writers' unions in usually Francophile Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon have refused to take part in an event that honours a country that they say violates the rights of Palestinians.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation called on its 50 member states to stay away because of Israel's “atrocities, oppression and imposed starvation and siege against the Palestinian people”.

The Salon du Livre has also brought criticism from left-wing French writers and rights organisations. Some French commentators have deplored the failure to invite Israeli Arab-language authors. The organisers counter that most of the 40 Israeli writers who are attending are advocates of a Palestinian state. They include David Grossman, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Aharon Appelfeld.

The usually vocal Paris literary world was slow to criticise the boycott. The lack of indignation from the usual thinking circles was deplored this week by Oliver Rolin and Olivier Rubinstein, a publisher and a writer. They condemned “the deafening silence from the whole community of writers and publishers who are taking part in this fair”.

The pair also deplored what they said was the hypocrisy of “Arab writers calling for the boycott of a country that they say is guilty of crimes against humanity”.

Bernard Henri-Lévy, the celebrity philosopher-commentator, has also weighed in, calling for the public to attend the show en masse as a protest against the boycott. “I hope that the people of Paris will demonstrate through their presence that they refuse the logic of boycotters and book-burners,” he said. “This is a case of states taking writers hostage. Those in Europe who feed this tendency carry a terrifying responsibility.”

Le Monde, the most august French newspaper, finally denounced the boycott yesterday, calling it “an absurd, shocking, hostage-taking of literature”. A few Arab writers have said that they will attend despite instructions to stay away from governments including those of Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Writing in his blog about such boycotts, Tahar Ben Jelloun, the Moroccan novelist, said: “Criticise the policies of a state. Criticise a novel on its literary merit. But don't mix up the two things and create an even bigger lack of understanding.”

Organisers of the fair say that they are dismayed by the Muslim action. Serge Eyrolles, its chief, said that Israeli writers had been invited, not their state. “I am not a government minister. My job is to bring literature to readers. I am very surprised by how political this is getting,” he said. Israel's turn to be honoured at the Paris fair just happened to coincide with the anniversary, he added.

Israel's ties to France have strengthened since the arrival in office last May of President Sarkozy, who has shifted France away from its traditionally pro-Arab policy. Mr Sarkozy, whose mother is Jewish, is caricatured in parts of the Arab world as a closet Zionist.

Mr Peres is the first foreign leader to pay a state visit to France under Mr Sarkozy's presidency, which began last May.

Fully booked

— The Paris Book Fair regularly features 3,000 public book signings, 1,200 exhibits, 250 meetings and conferences and hosts 180,000 visitors

— The Russian-born Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov raised the temperature at the 2005 event with a book which criticised President Putin’s Government

— The French Culture Minister Catherine Tasca threatened to boycott the 2002 fair if Silvio Berlusconi attended the opening. Italy withdrew in protest

— The guest of honour at the 2008 London Book Fair will be “The Arab World”. It is not known if Israel plans to boycott the event

Source: Reed Expo; Times Archive

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