Susan Sontag, the American essayist and novelist, criticized Israel's "disproportionate use of fire power" against the Palestinians as she collected the Jerusalem Prize at the Annual International Book Fair on Wednesday, said reports.
After accepting the prize from Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, Sontag called on Israel to stop building settlements and to demolish them instead as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, reported Haaretz.
Sontag told those present at the convention center: "I believe the doctrine of collective responsibility as a rationale for collective punishment is never justified, militarily or ethically. And I mean of course the disproportionate use of fire power against civilians, the demolition of their homes, the destruction of their orchards and groves, the deprivation of their livelihood and access to employment, to schooling, to medical services, or as a punishment for hostile, military activities in the vicinity of those civilians."
The 68-year-old author received the prize with these words: "I accept it in homage to all the writers and readers in Israel and Palestine struggling to create literature made of singular voices and the multiplicity of truth."
Sontag is the 20th person to receive the Jerusalem Prize, but only the second woman to win the $10,000 award. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who was one of three panelists who selected her as the 18th recipient of the Jerusalem Prize, described the winner as "one of the greatest writers of our time.”
The Associated Press said that some activists had pressured Sontag not to accept the Jerusalem Prize, saying it would be seen as indirect support for Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Sontag, who is on her second trip to Israel, is meeting Israeli and Palestinian writers, artists, intellectuals and political figures, according to the agency.
"A writer ought to not to be an opinion machine," she said Wednesday.
"The writer's first job is not to have opinions, but to attempt to tell the truth.”
Sontag, who is Jewish, was born in New York in 1933. She has written six works of nonfiction and four novels, including her most recent book "In America” – Albawaba.com
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