[antiwar-van] Bulletin Complicit in War Crimes

[hanna kawas]

It seems the local Zionists are surprised at what their unconditional
support for Israel could mean. Following is a front page article in their
paper JWB.
Hanna
Jewish Western Bulletin
August 1, 2003
http://www.jewishbulletin.ca/archives/Aug03/archives03Aug01-01.html
Dispute over art exhibit
Bulletin "complicit in war crimes," says Hanna Kawas.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
The Jewish Western Bulletin is complicit in war crimes, according to a local
Palestinian supporter. In reaction to a story last week on an art exhibit by
local artist Carel Moiseiwitsch, the Canpalnet news group e-mailed harsh
criticism of the Bulletin story to an unknown number of recipients.

"The local Zionists in Vancouver are attacking Carel Moiseiwitsch's art
exhibit for exposing the truth about Israeli brutality against the
Palestinian people," wrote Hanna Kawas, chair of the Canada Palestine
Association. "Carel is an ISM [International Solidarity Movement]-Vancouver
member who visited the Palestinian occupied territories in March of this
year and her paintings reflect what she saw and what she experienced while
she was there.... The Zionists are desperately trying to muffle the truth.
By doing so, they are complicit in these war crimes and Jews and non-Jews
alike have the responsibility to expose, condemn and isolate those who are
covering up for such Israeli practices."

The accusation follows coverage in last week's paper ("Israeli violence in
art," page 1; "Art show vilifies Israelis," page 14) describing aspects of
the exhibit at the grunt gallery, titled Life in Occupied Palestine, which
includes drawings and writings depicting Israeli military violence and
Israeli soldiers revelling in the humiliation and murder of Palestinians.

The exhibit was also accompanied by a small, photocopied chapbook presented
as a "travel guide to occupied Palestine" and which depicts hook-nosed
caricatures of Jewish soldiers and citizens as blood-thirsty murderers ready
to shoot anyone, blow up schools and destroy homes. The chapbook's origin is
a mystery, since the gallery's administrator says it was brought in by
Moiseiwitsch and Moiseiwitsch won't talk about it.

Moiseiwitsch at first agreed to be interviewed by the Bulletin then later
changed her mind. However, contacted at home, she offered some terse
comments before hanging up abruptly.

She said she had no comment on the chapbook, wouldn't say where it came
from, who its artist (named Xero) is, or why it was included with the
exhibit.
"It's just a donation," she said. "No comment."

Moiseiwitsch criticized the Bulletin, saying it is an apologist for the
Zionist cause.

"I've checked your Web site," she said. "I find it very prejudiced."

She said there are not two justifiable sides in the Israeli-Palestinian
dispute.

"I don't have any empathy for the Zionist position," she said. "There's no
argument on this planet that can justify what the Israeli army is doing."

Moiseiwitsch accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of negotiating in
bad faith and taking land that legally belongs to Palestinians. Though she
said she empathizes with Israeli victims of suicide bombers, the number of
victims of Israeli violence, she said, are far more numerous than Israeli
victims. Israel, she added, has the fourth largest army in the world and
spends "12 million f---ing dollars a day" on its military. She added that
the Israeli system is akin to apartheid.

She did have kind words for some Israelis, though.

"Some Israelis are being very, very courageous," she said, referring to
activists seeking rapprochement with the Palestinians.

Hillary Wood, administrator of the nonprofit gallery, said she had glanced
through the chapbook but hadn't read it thoroughly. Asked by the Bulletin to
comment after reading it, Wood declined.

"I'm feeling rather strange about doing that," she said. Exhibits are
selected for their artistic merit and passionate perspective, but it is not
the role of the gallery or its staff to analyze the content from a political
perspective, she said. To comment on an exhibit or a parallel item
accompanying an exhibit could jeopardize the relationship between the
gallery and its artists, she said. "I don't want to alienate our artists."

To the suggestion that someone at the gallery must take responsibility for
the content of an exhibit, Wood said that many artists present ideas that
are contentious and it would be a sort of censorship for the gallery or its
staff to determine what can and cannot go into the gallery based on
political criteria.

The chapbook was not mentioned when the exhibit was first planned. Wood said
it is something that Moiseiwitsch brought during the set-up of the drawings.
But, Wood stressed again, it is not the policy of the gallery to limit the
artists to strict guidelines nor to micromanage an exhibit's content after
an artist has been approved for an exhibit.

Personally, Wood said, she has some opinions about the exhibit.

"As an individual, there are certain things I don't like," she said. But as
an arts administrator, she added, her opinions about the content are largely
irrelevant, regardless of the topic. The grunt gallery's mandate is to
provide a venue for art with a "passionate position," which means a lot of
the art that comes through the door is going to challenge somebody's
worldview.

"A lot of what people say is very contentious," Wood said.

Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.
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