Alice Walker Forbids Hebrew Translation of “The Color Purple”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker has forbidden the printing of a hebrew translation of her famed novel The Color Purple.
Citing the treatment of Palestinians, Walker asserts that the Israeli Government is guilty of a “worse apartheid” than the United States. Walker has been an outspoken advocate for the Palestinian cause, having even participated in one of the flotillas to Gaza.
The Color Purple has not been translated into Hebrew since 1984.
“Walker wrote: ‘It isn’t possible for me to permit this at this time for the following reason: As you may know, last Fall in South Africa the Russell Tribunal on Palestine met and determined that Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories. The testimony we heard, both from Israelis and Palestinians (I was a jurist) was devastating. I grew up under American apartheid and this was far worse. Indeed, many South Africans who attended, including Desmond Tutu, felt the Israeli version of these crimes is worse even than what they suffered under the white supremacist regimes that dominated South Africa for so long.’
She adds, ‘It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation.'”
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Is Israel guilty of a worse apartheid than the United States?
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