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Last update - 09:18 26/04/2008
Facing widespread pressure, Nadine Gordimer may pull out of Israel writers meet
By David B. Green, Haaretz Correspondent
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South African writer Nadine Gordimer may pull out of her appearance next month at Jerusalem's International Writers Festival in the face of a widespread campaign pressuring her to cancel.

The 84-year-old Gordimer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, is scheduled to make three appearances at the festival, which runs at Mishkenot Sha'ananim May 11-15.

Other writers slated to attend include Americans Nathan Englander, Jonathan Safran Foer and Russell Banks, as well as Israelis David Grossman and Amos Oz, the latter of whom is scheduled to share the stage with Gordimer on May 12.
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"I am dealing with the issue now," Gordimer told Haaretz in a telephone conversation from her home in Johannesburg on Friday. She refused to comment further on the controversy, except to say she would soon make a public statement on her decision.

Gordimer has received dozens of appeals, many of them posted on-line, calling on her to join a cultural boycott of Israel.

Gordimer, who is Jewish, has long been identified with left-wing causes, including her longtime backing of the African National Congress dating back to the apartheid period, when the black liberation movement was outlawed. In 2001, she publicly urged her friend Susan Sontag not to come to Jerusalem, where the late American writer was to be honored with the Jerusalem Prize at the capital's biennial international book fair. Sontag did come in the end, and received the literary award in person.

Now it is Gordimer who is being pressed to stay away from Israel. For example an open letter earlier this month signed by British professors Hilary and Steven Rose, who have led the Jewish lobby in the U.K. campaigning for a boycott of Israeli academia, implored her not to "give the Israeli establishment, the Israeli press, the whole Israeli PR machine, the prize they want - your apparent condoning of their policies."

Yael Nahari, the director of the Jerusalem's International Writers Festival, told Haaretz that, following a request from Gordimer, she is trying to arrange for the South African writer to "meet the other side [Palestinians]," including students at al-Quds University in Jerusalem. Nahari was optimistic that Gordimer will go ahead with her planned appearance at the five-day meet. "I think she'll come," she said.

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      1.   If she succumbs to the pressure what does that say? 17:35  |  De 25/04/08
      2.   Israel`s reputation: Going to the tank 17:50  |  American 25/04/08
      3.   Just don`t give her the price... 18:34  |  Mike 25/04/08
      4.   we should invite be nice. if she chooses not to come hit back 19:03  |  ralph 25/04/08
      5.   the lost left finaly finds a new cause 19:34  |  Bob 25/04/08
      6.   Nadine Gordimer 19:39  |  Esther 25/04/08
      7.   Here is a joke: she will boycott Oz and Grossman 19:59  |  AA 25/04/08
      8.   World leftists boycotting Israeli leftists 20:03  |  Aphemia 25/04/08
      9.   contact Bloomsbury Press to voice your disapproval of these tacti 20:03  |  leucippe 25/04/08
      10.   Gordimer 20:07  |  Nathan SZajnberg 25/04/08
      11.   J.M. Coetzee, Jerusalem Prize 1987 20:10  |  Esther 25/04/08
      12.   To # 2 American. World opinion 21:49  |  Altalena 25/04/08
      13.   THE "LEFT" 22:38  |  JOJO (USA) 25/04/08
      14.   PRESSURE??? 23:11  |  Brant 25/04/08
      15.   reaction to actions 23:34  |  seeking peace 25/04/08
      16.   bullying an 84 year old nobel winner 23:54  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 25/04/08
      17.   It is the year 2008 and 23:55  |  Mr Ipp 25/04/08
      18.   Another attempt at muzzling and cultural apartheid 23:56  |  Slibovitz 25/04/08
      19.   The fact that a leftist boycots other 00:07  |  msh 26/04/08
      20.   Don´t know but there is something wrong in some ashkenarzi heads. 00:32  |  Salomon S Mizrahi 26/04/08
      21.   These people are phonly Leftists--more totalitarian 00:37  |  PhillyJew 26/04/08
      22.   Where were all the "intellectuals" during the Holocaust? 00:40  |  PhillyJew 26/04/08
      23.   Antisemite Jose Saramango has a Nobel too--it`s meaningless 00:42  |  PhillyJew 26/04/08
      24.   Nobel joke...ask Jorge Luis Borges 00:56  |  Leftist but aware 26/04/08
      25.   re philly jew 01:03  |  billy jack 26/04/08
      26.   black african 01:24  |  sipho 26/04/08
      27.   to 23# 01:29  |  drdanielito 26/04/08
      28.   Why aren`t they boycotting the racist Palestinians? 02:05  |  Joe Sittizen 26/04/08
      29.   `succumbing to pressure` 02:36  |  Colin Wright 26/04/08
      30.   billy jack responding to Philly Jew 03:02  |  Connie 26/04/08
      31.   re ralph #4 03:06  |  Colin Wright 26/04/08
      32.   winning a Nobel is now license to hate Israel 03:06  |  steve from raleigh 26/04/08
      33.   re:Joe Sittizen 03:54  |  housam 26/04/08
      34.   COLIN WRIGHT #29 04:36  |  Brant 26/04/08
      35.   Nadine Gordimer 07:25  |  Honour 26/04/08
      36.   "Pressure" 07:45  |  Rowan 26/04/08
      37.   Nadine Gordimer dont go.... 07:46  |  BG 26/04/08
      38.   re connie 08:40  |  billy jack 26/04/08
      39.   i hope she doesn`t go...BUT... 08:47  |  eric 26/04/08
      40.   Re Leftist #24 09:11  |  Esther 26/04/08
      41.   Stephen Rose who are you? 09:34  |  Louis - Sydney 26/04/08
      42.   sell out 10:31  |  don 26/04/08
      43.   Nadine Gordimer 10:43  |  MJ 26/04/08
      44.   Independance v Catastrophe 10:50  |  Palestinian Brit 26/04/08
      45.   Even the Dalai Lama visited Israel 11:16  |  David 26/04/08
      46.   Hilary and Steven Rose banned from Israel 11:44  |  Dezon 26/04/08
      47.   no. 24. An Israeli has received! 12:18  |  Daniel 26/04/08
      48.   Actually Stephen Rose is a very respected academic 12:23  |  Ben Alofs 26/04/08
      49.   Non-science Nobel a joke 13:00  |  Honest Abe 26/04/08
      50.   If she`s even considering boycotting, then she`s not welcome 14:00  |  SystemF 26/04/08
      51.   Call for her not to come was started by group in Israel 14:03  |  Danny 26/04/08
      52.   to Mizrahi 14:53  |  Goldenberg 26/04/08
      53.   46, No he is not so respected 14:55  |  Daniel 26/04/08
      54.   Re Dezon #46 15:07  |  Esther 26/04/08
      55.   Ben Alofs 48 15:12  |  Acad 26/04/08
      56.   re: daniel (goldhagen) and academic quality 15:55  |  Eyal 26/04/08
      57.   DANIEL: DON`T WASTE YOUR BREATH... 16:07  |  Brant 26/04/08
      58.   Gordimer do you STAND with us, or JOIN those who shun us? 16:19  |  david 26/04/08
      59.   Haaretz censorship 16:30  |  ky 26/04/08
      60.   free speech 21:08  |  michael 26/04/08
      61.   The usual double standard at work 21:14  |  Natallie Durson 26/04/08
      62.   #59 21:30  |  Jane 26/04/08
      63.   #44 21:34  |  Jane 26/04/08
      64.   Once again left- wing anti- Israeli writers given prominence 21:58  |  Shalom Freedman 26/04/08
      65.   #58, "enemies charter" 22:20  |  Fritz T. 26/04/08
      66.   The Typical Gnatalie Response 23:52  |  Tex 26/04/08
      67.   #61 00:17  |  Jane 27/04/08
      68.   #22-PJ-Holocaust " Jewish intellectuals" ran to Hollywood.. 05:28  |  PK 27/04/08
      69.   Supporting Israel not a popularity contest & no prize.. 05:35  |  PK 27/04/08
      70.   Nadine Gordimer May Pull Out 13:05  |  JordanisPalestine 30/04/08
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