Palestine: we have no other country

The event “Palästina: Wir haben kein anderes Land” (Palestine: we have no other country) took place in Zurich on September 10 as part of the the “Kosmopolitics” series of events. After the showing of Dror Dayan’s film “Even though my land is burning”, a discussion was held.

Despite being in Zurich, the film’s protagonist, Palestinian Manal Tamimi, did not attend the panel discussion on the resistance of her village, Nabih Saleh, against the Israeli occupation. In the run-up to the event, pro-Israeli platform “audiatur” unearthed anti-Semitic comments made by Manal Tamimi and put many organizers – including the Karl der Grosse Center, led by the city of Zurich – under pressure to refuse Tamimi her chance to speak. Israeli filmmaker, Dror Dayan, showed his solidarity with her and also stayed away from the discussion held at the Kosmos cultural center.

This position was made clear and the remaining panelists – Margrith Nagel from Café Palestine Zurich and Reto Rufer, country expert from Amnesty International Switzerland – based their explanations around aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict relating to international law and human rights. In the ensuing, active public debate, Jewish voices were well represented too. It is regretted that criticism of certain circles related to Israel is instinctively equated with anti-Semitism. A purposeful dialog which would lead to the termination of the Israeli occupation is thus constantly being torpedoed.