Or Else
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The
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UT Austin was planning to publish
the book in honor of the late American scholar Elizabeth Fernai, a
professor there whose life and work were focused on the Middle East.
At first, novelist Huzama Habayeb was delighted to contribute as one of
fifteen Arab writers. But that turned to “horror,” as a Gulf News
editorial put it, when she realized that the collection would also
feature two Israeli women... Habayeb withdrew her manuscript,
complaining to the Center that Israel is an “occupier” of her land
“Palestine” – although she was born in Kuwait, raised in Jordan, lives
in Dubai, and has never set foot in Israel
The university accepted her withdrawal but moved forward with plans to
publish. Taken aback by this, Habayeb determined to ban the book
altogether. She urged other Arab contributors to withdraw their
manuscripts. A friend, Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour who is married to
a Palestinian poet, was the first to go along. Then others got onboard.
[Texas
University Cancels Book with Israeli Authors]
I
believe this incident is symbolic of the threat Islam poses to any
culture it manages to infest. A commenter summed it up nicely.
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.Behind all last minute "back
outs" by Muslims one will find C.A.I.R., the biggest enemy of free
speech in America. They read them the riot act and "convince" Muslims
to back out so that the book or the program never sees the light of
day. All "truth" must come from the C.A.I.R. fiction machine.
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Keeping people in line using fear of unpoken, but well understood
threat of reprisal, works. Think Hollywood.
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