Gideon Levy launches 'The Punishment of Gaza' (Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 - IPSC)

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Wednesday February 16, 2011 17:15 by Kev - IPSC info at ipsc dot ie

Renowned dissident Israeli journalist Gideon Levy speaks about his latest book

Public Lecture and Book Launch:
Renowned dissident Israeli journalist
GIDEON LEVY
Speaks about ‘The Punishment of Gaza’

Wednesday 9th March, 7pm, Emmet Theatre, Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin.

Gideon Levy in Dublin - Poster

World renowned award-winning dissident Israeli journalist Gideon Levy is to speak in Dublin’s Trinity College on Wednesday March 9th as part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2011. Levy, an acclaimed critic of Israel’s brutal policies towards the Palestinian people via his column in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, will be here to launch his book The Punishment of Gaza. The lecture will take place at 7pm in the Emmet Theatre, Arts Block, TCD and entry is free. Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing.

Levy – who has written for Haaretz since 1982 - for has been the subject of much criticism in mainstream Israeli society for his views, including having one senior Israeli official call for the secret police to monitor him. Conversely, his writings has been much praised by those who support Palestinian human rights; he has been called “brave”, “heroic”, “passionate”, “eloquent”, a “rare voice of courage” and a “searing critic of Israeli brutality”.

The Punishment of Gaza (Verso 2010), his second book, covers the period from 2005 - the year of the Israeli “withdrawal” - through to 2009 and the aftermath of the attack on Gaza that left over 1,400 people dead. Levy shows how the ground was prepared for this assault and documents its continuing effects. The book tracks the development of Israel policy, which has abandoned the pretence of diplomacy in favour of raw military power, the ultimate aim of which is to deny Palestinians any chance of forming their own independent state.

Punished by Israel and the Quartet of international powers for the democratic election of Hamas, Gaza has been transformed into the world’s largest open-air prison. From Gazan families struggling to cope with the random violence of Israel’s blockade and its “targeted” assassinations, to the machinations of legal experts and the continued connivance of the international community, every aspect of this ongoing tragedy is eloquently recorded and forensically analyzed. Levy’s powerful journalism shows how the brutality at the heart of Israel’s occupation of Palestine has found its most complete expression to date in the collective punishment of Gaza's residents.

This event is organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) in conjunction with the TCD MPhil in Race, Ethnicity & Conflict. It is one of a series of events taking place around Ireland during international Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 (6 – 12 March). For more information on other events in Ireland please see: http://www.ipsc.ie/iaw2011

Praise for the book:

“There are more terrible atrocities in the world than what is being done to the caged prisoners of Gaza, but it is not easy to think of a more cruel and cowardly exhibition of human savagery, fully supported by the US, with Europe trailing politely behind. Gideon Levy’s passionate and revealing account is an eloquent, even desperate, call to bring this shocking tragedy to an end, as can easily be done.”
– Noam Chomsky

“Levy has a way with words that leads him to some brilliant indictments of Israel.”
– Electronic Intifada

“Levy has made it his exclusive mission ... to document the grim and brutal facts of the occupation, to tell the stories he knows Israelis do not want to hear ... To this shiny nation—democratic, prosperous, confident in its righteousness—Levy holds up Gaza like a mirror.”
– Ben Ehrenreich, Nation

“Gideon Levy is among a small group of Israeli journalists giving a face and a voice to Palestinians in the world's most intractable conflict.”
– Montreal Gazette

“Levy ... deals with the politically and emotionally charged subject of the hardships of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, and their conflicts with the Israeli military and Jewish settlers.”
– Rabble.ca

“The story of Gideon Levy—and the attempt to deride, suppress or deny his words—is the story of Israel distilled. If he loses, Israel itself is lost.”
– Johann Hari, Independent

Israeli Apartheid Week 2011