In the tumultuous history between Israelis and Palestinians, certain periods have brought hope, such as the year 1993, that of the Oslo Accords and the handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. Or 1978, the year of the historic Treaty of Camp David which led to peace between Israel and Egypt in return for Sinai. On an artistic level, Rita and the gun, a poem by the Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), has become a symbol of non-violence in the Middle East. In the 1960s, Darwish was in love with a Jewish Israeli woman, but it was impossible for them to continue together following the Six Day War.
By visiting “Uneasy Past” dedicated to Palestine and other struggles against “imperialism” at the Palais de Tokyo (until the end of June), one would like to see photos of these events. But the exhibition, designed by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti, researchers in the cultural history of the Middle East, sparked a lively controversy following the resignation of art collector Sandra Hegedüs-Mulliez, patron of the Palais de Tokyo. In 2009, the latter founded Sam Art Projects, a foundation which produces three exhibitions per year, accompanied by a prize for artists from Latin America, Africa or the Middle East. She says she made her decision not to participate in “very biased causes (wokism, anti-capitalism, pro-Palestine, etc.)”. For Sandra Hegedüs-Mulliez, the “Uneasy Past” exhibition offers “without perspective, biased and misleading points of view on the history of this conflict, giving voice, without contradiction, to racist, violent and anti-Semitic remarks “.
The collector’s resignation drew criticism. The world notably published a column by several personalities, such as the former Minister of Culture Jack Lang or the playwright Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, defending the freedom of programming of cultural institutions. “I don’t take away anyone’s freedom, I simply practice mine. They have the right to organize whatever exhibition they want, and I have the right to disagree. It’s very important to have freedom on both sides By attacking me, it reinforces my decision, these people have a truth of their own which is not debatable. When we question this truth, we are attacked. denounce” Sandra Hegedüs-Mulliez answers us today.
Historical manipulation
At the entrance to the exhibition, we think we will encounter the traditional symbols of Palestine: keffiyeh, flags, watermelon, olive branches… But we discover numerous photos and slogans of conflicts that have nothing to do with Gaza or the West Bank. In the largest room, Chile occupies an important place with photos of Salvador Allende (1908-1973), socialist president overthrown by Augusto Pinochet. The word “apartheid” is repeated several times on the walls, in connection with South Africa. There is also a photo of a Kalashnikov brandished by a red fist next to the word “revolution”.
In the presentation of the exhibition, the curators explain that it “retraces stories of artists’ commitment as well as four cases of museums in solidarity with the international anti-imperialist movement of the 1960s-1980s.” After contemplating the different photographs, the visitor unfamiliar with the history of the Middle East will say that it is clear that Israel must be considered an imperialist, colonialist and racist country, against which it is necessary to practice resistance. army. And what does it matter if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing to do with segregationist South Africa or the bloody Pinochet dictatorship. Let us remember that Israel is a democracy, the only one in the region, whose citizens are nearly two million Palestinians. The danger of these manipulative comparisons is that they incite public opinion to hatred against Israel by playing on the guilt of the West vis-à-vis its own colonial or imperialist history.
By in no way evoking the historical conditions which led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the exhibition closes all the doors leading to a solution to emerge from this tragedy. Presenting Israel as a “colonial” country is to repeat the propaganda developed by Arab dictators in order to designate a very practical foreign “enemy” to dominate their own people, and to justify the state of emergency or the ban on freedom of expression.
Celebration of terrorists
The theme of the house occupies a special place in the exhibition. We can read in Arabic, on several drawings addressed to children: “the Palestinian’s house is in Palestine, how can he get it back? With weapons.” The pervasive victim narrative demonizes Israel and simplifies the conflict by presenting it as a struggle between the good guys and the bad guys. The word “Israel” is also absent in this exhibition. It is replaced by “the enemy”. Only one map is displayed in several places with the sole caption: “Palestine.” A text in Arabic speaks of Gaza in these terms: “It is known throughout its history for its resistance against the Crusades, the English, and the Zionists.” The text cites several names of “resistance fighters”, such as Abou Youssef (alias Mohammed Youssef al-Najjar), member of Fatah, the national liberation movement of Palestine. He organized several attacks against Israel, before being assassinated by the Mossad in 1973, following the Munich massacre of 1972.
The year 1978 is very present in “Pasté worry”. We see newspaper extracts and photos about the international art exhibition for Palestine, inaugurated in Beirut that year. Right next door, a demonstration accompanied by the words “Against the Judaization of the Galilee”, with photos of Yasser Arafat. At the time, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was staying in the Lebanese capital. The same year, his organization committed dozens of attacks against Israeli civilians, such as the coastal road massacre, which cost the lives of 38 civilians, including 13 children. Later, in 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon, in response to attacks launched by Palestinian militias from that territory. Lebanese Christians then collaborated with Israel, before having to flee their country following the departure of the IDF and taking refuge in the Jewish state. So many details missing from an exhibition which favors the victim discourse.
If the resolutely anti-Israeli points of view relayed by these paintings or photos were part of an artistic diversity or were simply placed in their historical context, we could understand the holding of such an exhibition. But this is in clear contradiction with the words of the organizers which can be read at the entrance: “the curators and the Palais de Tokyo reaffirm their solidarity with all the victims of this tragedy, condemn the terrorist acts of Hamas, anti-Semitism, and call for a return to peace.”
Instead of showing the complexity of a seventy-five-year-old conflict and recalling moments that united Israelis and Palestinians in order to block barbarism, the Palais de Tokyo chose to serve the most anti-Israeli propaganda. primary. When art puts itself at the service of ideology…
* Writer and poet born in Damascus, Omar Youssef Souleimane participated in demonstrations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but, hunted by the secret services, had to flee Syria in 2012. Refugee in France, he published with Flammarion The Little Terrorist, The Last Syrian, A room in exile, and recently Being French.
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