“In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Donald Trump seeks to achieve through a declaration what Israel has been trying to do for 50 years through force of arms.”
In a letter to the Guardian, figures from across the arts world says the move by the US president will help to further an Israeli agenda to “erase Palestinians as a political and cultural presence from the life of their own city.”
The letter accuses the Israeli government of subjecting the Palestinian people to “municipal discrimination at every level” and instigating a “creeping process of ethnic cleansing”, which it says will be made worse by Trump’s move to change the status of Jerusalem.
“We reject Trump’s collusion with such racist manipulation and his disregard for international law,” says the letter, whose signatories also include the playwright Caryl Churchill, the director Mike Leigh and the actors Maxine Peake, Julie Christie and Juliette Stephenson.
“We deplore his readiness to crown the Israeli military conquest of East Jerusalem and his indifference to Palestinian rights. As artists and as citizens, we challenge the ignorance and inhumanity of these policies, and celebrate the resilience of Palestinians living under occupation.”
Trump declared last week that the US would recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, breaking the international consensus on one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Palestinians believe the capital of a future Palestinian state should be the east of the city, and most countries consider East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in 1967, to be occupied territory.
During a visit by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Paris, the French resident, Emmanuel Macron, said US recognition of Jerusalem was a “threat to peace”.
The artists’ letter says Macron’s comments did not go far enough. It adds: “In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Donald Trump seeks to achieve through a declaration what Israel has been trying to do for 50 years through force of arms.”
Letter to the Guardian
The Guardian reports (10 December) President Macron’s comment that recent US moves on the status of Jerusalem are a threat to peace. They are much more than that. In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Donald Trump seeks to achieve through a declaration what Israel has been trying to do for 50 years through force of arms: to erase Palestinians, as a political and cultural presence, from the life of their own city. The Palestinian people of Jerusalem are already subject to municipal discrimination at every level, and a creeping process of ethnic cleansing.In addition to the continuing policy of house demolitions, in the last 15 years at least 35 Palestinian public institutions and NGOs in occupied East Jerusalem have been permanently or temporarily closed by the occupying forces.
Cultural institutions have been a particular target. At the same time, Israeli authorities and entrepreneurs have spent millions in clearing Palestinian neighbourhoods to create “heritage” projects that promote a myth of mono-ethnic urban identity, said to stretch back 3,000 years.
We reject Trump’s collusion with such racist manipulation and his disregard for international law. We deplore his readiness to crown the Israeli military conquest of East Jerusalem and his indifference to Palestinian rights. As artists and as citizens, we challenge the ignorance and inhumanity of these policies, and celebrate the resilience of Palestinians living under occupation.
Full list of over 100 artists who signed letter
Tunde Adebimpe, musician
Peter Ahrends, architect
Hanan Al-Shaykh, writer
Tayo Aluko, actor, playwright
Frankie Armstrong, musician
Jonathan Arndell, architect
Conrad Atkinson, visual artist
Phyllida Barlow, visual artist
Roy Battersby, film director
Sarah Beddington, visual artist
Yves Berger, painter
Nicholas Blincoe, writer
Nick Broomfield, film director
David Calder, actor
Julie Christie, actor
Caryl Churchill, playwright
Norma Cohen, actor, writer
Molly Crabapple, writer, artist
Darren Cullen, artist
Michael Cunningham, writer
Selma Dabbagh, writer
William Dalrymple, writer, historian
Michael Darlow, director
Angela Davis, writer
Dror Dayan, filmmaker
April de Angelis, playwright
Andy de la Tour, actor
Ivor Dembina, comedian
Olof Dreijer, musician
Zillah Eisenstein, author
Sally El Hosaini, screenwriter, director
Brian Eno, musician
Eve Ensler, playwright
Samir Eskanda, musician
Jodie Evans, author, producer
Annie Firbank, actor
Peter Gabriel, musician
Tom Gilroy, actor, director
Orlando Gough, composer
Stephanos Gouvianakis, DJ
Douglas Hart, musician, director
Mona Hatoum, visual artist
Rachel Holmes, writer
Ian Ilavsky, label co-founder
Aki Kaurismaki, film director
John Keane, visual artist
Peter Kennard, artist
AL Kennedy, writer
Nancy Kricorian, writer
Hari Kunzru, writer
Paul Laverty, screenwriter
James Lecesne, actor
Mike Leigh, writer, director
Tom Leonard, poet
Les Levidow, violinist
Ken Loach, film director
Carmen Lobue, actor
Liz Lochhead, poet, playwright
Billy Lunn, musician
Charlotte Marionneau, musician
Kika Markham, actor
Francesca Martinez, comedian, actor
Ahmed Masoud, writer, director
Emel Mathlouthi, musician
Mark Matousek, writer
Julian Maynard Smith, artist, director
JD Meatyard, musician
Pauline Melville, writer, actor
Simon Milner, musician
Thurston Moore, musician
Tom Morello, musician
Harry Newman, actor
Christopher Norris, philosopher, writer
Andrew O’Hagan, writer
Eugene O’Hare, actor
Maxine Peake, actor
Tonya Pinkins, actor
Vijay Prashad, writer
John Robb, musician, writer
Michael Rosen, poet
Mark Ruffalo, actor
Kareem Samara, musician
Lias Saoudi, musician
Ian Saville, magician
James Schamus, screenwriter, producer, director
Nick Seymour, musician
Nabil Shaban, actor, writer
Khaldoun Shami, filmmaker
Yasmin Shariff, architect
Sheikh, band
Gillian Slovo, writer
John Smith, visual artist
Ahdaf Soueif, writer
Juliet Stevenson, actor
Tilda Swinton, actor
Yanis Varoufakis, author
Marina Warner, writer
Roger Waters, musician
Vivienne Westwood, designer
whenyoung, band
Don Wilkie, label co-founder
Susan Wooldridge, actor, writer
Robert Wyatt, musician