Renowned Novelist Russel Banks Boycotts International Writers' Festival in Occupied Jerusalem

While having accepted the invitation to attend the festival, Banks realized that his presence would be an endorsement of Israel's racist policies that he had been an outspoken critic of in the past. An open letter to Banks from the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) stated: “In March 2002 you were in Gaza City with the International Parliament of Writers, of which you were then president. You are reported to have told the Palestinians, 'You are not alone'. But you are about to take part in an event which is substantially funded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This action will speak louder than any of the words you have previously spoken.” The full BRICUP letter can be found at http://www.bricup.org.uk/documents/OpenLettertoRussellBanks.pdf