The Australian
Jennine Khalik
A Melbourne playwright has defended herself against claims a play set in Gaza and studied by Victorian high school students is anti-Israel.
Samah Sabawi.
Tales of a City by the Sea, a love story set during the Gaza conflict in 2008 and 2009, is by poet and author Samah Sabawi and is in this year’s Victorian Certificate of Education drama curriculum.
But Jewish lobby group B’nai B’rith has attacked the play as “anti-Israel propaganda”. It is understood state Education Minister James Merlino has been approached to have it removed from the curriculum.
B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said the play portrayed Israel as a “bloodthirsty, evil war machine”. “Nowhere to be found is the Israeli perspective, the suicide bombings inside Israel,” he told The Age.
The play is one of 16 works, including two dealing with the Holocaust, being studied by Year 11 and 12 drama students.
“The play tells the story of Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Sabawi, who is of Palestinian background and has family in Gaza. However, there was “no discussion about Israel”, she said.
“It’s just a beautiful story about how ordinary people struggle and try to survive in the most extreme circumstances, facing external siege and war and bombardment and also internal repression.”
In the play, a woman in a Gaza refugee camp falls in love with an American-born Palestinian doctor and activist.
“Tales is not a manifesto,” Sabawi said. “Others have found value in these stories, including Israelis and Jewish audiences.
“It is intentionally written in a depoliticised sense and brings out the lives and stories of the people.”
Yesterday, Mr Merlino said he was “confident that drama teachers will ensure students understand the full context surrounding this issue”. A Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority spokesman said the body had a rigorous selection process involving an expert panel of drama educators from schools, industry and universities assessing plays against set criteria.
Despite this, Dr Abramovich said VCE students would be left with the idea that “faceless Israelis (are) crushing and killing innocent civilians”.
“I am genuinely concerned for any Jewish-Australian pupils who will have to deal with the outrage and visceral contempt of their classmates at school.”
A statement from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network slamming the suggestion said the play was “an important opportunity to glimpse what life is like behind the wire.”
“Israel’s military attacks on Gaza and the blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt has cost thousands of innocent lives. The play also reports on the internal repression of the Palestinian political factions in the Strip,” it read.
“The attacks on this play are similar to many other attempts to prevent Palestinians sharing their stories.”
To read the article in The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/school-drama-a-love-story-not-antiisrael-propaganda/news-story/0aae17904f56886d98528f7a27a1efcd?login=1