A young Palestinian novelist has found himself stranded in Qatar, following the issuing of a warrant for his arrest back home.
A nationwide ban on has been issued on Abbad Yahya’s book “(A) Crime in Ramallah” after the Palestinian judiciary ruled that it “violated public decency and morality”. This, allegedly because it tells the story of a homosexual Palestinian man who, along with two others, is wrongly accused of murder.
A Crime in Ramallah, Yahya’s fourth novel, is also critical of Palestinian leadership, and of the prevailing social conservatism within West Bank society.
Copies of the book have already been confiscated “from Jenin to Hebron,” following the ruling. Meanwhile, the book’s distributor, Fuad Akleek, was detained and questioned by the Palestinian authorities last Monday night. Its 29-year-old writer, who is also editor-in-chief at Ultra Sawt website, remains unable to return to his family for fear of prosecution.
Many have supported the ban, including Murad Sudani, the head of the Palestinian Writers Union, who has described it is a “silly novel that violates the national and religious values of society in order to appease the West and win prizes.”
“The job of the writer in our occupied country is to raise the hope and enlighten people — not to break the national and religious symbols,” he added, according to Pink News.
Adel Osta, a professor of literature at An-Najah University in Nablus has also claimed that Yahya “went too far in crossing the red lines of Palestinian society.”
However, the government Department for Culture and Media has called upon the Attorney General to lift the “unjustified” ruling, Palestinian news agency WAFA has reported.
The Department reportedly accused the ban of restricting freedom of expression and creativity, warning that using “public decency and morality” as a justification was dangerous, as it could open the door to blunt censorship.
The Minister for Culture, Ehab Bessaiso, posted the following on his Facebook page last week:
In his post, Bessaiso indicates his intention to read Yahya’s novel in order to search for any justifiable reason for the ban.
The Minister goes on to highlight his strong objection to the use of the law to restrict creativity and his complete rejection of any kind of censorship. He suggests that the way for people to respond to art they do not like is to produce art which opposes it.
Many commented their agreement with his position:
All my respect goes to you, sir.
"Creativity is judged through critique, not through the placing of bans." This is the official position and we are proud that we are building a state of institutions. Thank you for your thoughts, [the words of] your pen and for following cultural issues [closely].
In most Muslim-majority societies, including Palestine, homosexuality continues to be considered a taboo subject. In the majority of the countries in the Middle East, “sodomy” is punishable by imprisonment or, in some cases, execution.
However, Palestinians are increasingly bucking the trend to reject conservative attitudes. In a recent subversive music video, young musician Bashar Murad challenged rigid gender roles, even briefly exploring cross-dressing.
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