Sunday, January 01, 2012

I Admit: There's Apartheid in the 'West Bank'

That's right, apartheid in the West Bank:

PA bans Druse singer from Ramallah New Years bash

Oops, was that Arab apartheid or Islamic apartheid?

In any case, in was in the 'West Bank'.

The details:-

The Palestinian Authority banned a well-know Israeli Druse singer from appearing at a New Year’s Eve party in Ramallah. The decision to ban Mike Sharif, known as “The Druse Boy,” was taken following strong protests and threats by many Palestinians who oppose “normalization” with Israelis.

...The Palestinians were angered by the fact that Sharif was presented as an Israeli and that some of his songs were in Hebrew...Others said they didn’t like the fact that a member of the Druse community, whose sons serve in the IDF, would appear at a party in Ramallah.

PA policemen raided the hall where the party was supposed to take place and ordered the owners to cancel Sharif’s appearance, eyewitnesses said.

The organizers of the event were forced to replace the Druse singer with another performer.

And what happened last year in Tel Aviv?

As reported by pro-Pal. 972:-

Artists playing Tel Aviv should insist on Palestinians attending


So Macy Gray decided to perform in Tel Aviv. After sharing her hesitation with her fans on Facebook, Gray apparently made up her mind not to cancel the gigs she planned to have in Israel. One of her tweets implies she was also turned off by some of the messages she got from the pro-Palestinian side. On Wednesday night, Gray posted a response to one of her followers: “@bahebakyagaza See I’m willing to listen – really listen – but some of you so called boycotters are just assholes.”

...Many artists believe that music transcends political boundaries and everyday reality, so they are unwilling to submit their work even to political causes they believe in. Artists also tend to think that fans shouldn’t be punished for their governments’ actions, and some think that it’s not a good idea to mix politics and music. What’s more, most people were educated to believe that banning someone – anyone – is a bad thing, and they are inclined to think that this goes for states too.

And remember the last time music was banned in Ramallah?

July 2010. Boney M. "Rivers of Babylon" was banned.

Here:

Lead singer Maizie Williams said Palestinian concert organizers told her not to sing "Rivers of Babylon." The song's chorus quotes from the Book of Psalms, referring to the exiled Jewish people's yearning to return to the biblical land of Israel.

"I don't know if it is a political thing or what, but they asked us not to do it and we were a bit disappointed that we could not do it because we know that everybody loves this song no matter what," she said.

(k/t=DF)

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