En los últimos días, estas dos figuras se han enzarzado en una discusión acerca de si se debe tocar en Israel o boicotear a ese país mientras sigan sin respetarse allí los derechos humanos. Comenzó con el anuncio de Alan de un gran concierto allí. Roger le mandó la siguiente carta:
Dear Alan,
It’s been 40 years since we worked on Dark Side of the Moon together. If you recall, I was the pimply bass player, you were the tall engineer. Congratulations on your many successes since then.
The reason for my letter today is that I see you have plans to do a gig in Tel Aviv in February. I am writing to ask you to reconsider those plans. I know you to be a talented and thoughtful man, so I assume you know of the plight of the Palestinians and that there is a growing nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement protesting against the abusive policies of the Israeli government.
The BDS movement was started by Palestinian Civil Society in 2005 as a call to people of conscience to join their freedom struggle. Since then, the BDS torch has been passed from mouth to mouth, hand to hand and heart to heart and now is spread across the globe from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from Lapland to South Africa – and inside Israel itself. In the last year in particular it has become a moral force to be reckoned with and has provided Palestinians and their allies with a means of resisting nonviolently against colonization, discrimination, and ongoing dispossession.
BDS is a means to end the 47-year occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem and achieve equal basic human and political rights for all the people – Jewish and Palestinian – inside of Israel and the occupied territories.
While I know you don’t want to disappoint your fans by canceling this gig, you would be sending a powerful message to them and the world by doing so. As with Sun City, more and more artists are standing up to say they will not perform in Israel until such time as their occupation ends and equal rights are extended to Palestinians.
I ask that you consider joining me, and hundreds of thousands of others, by lending your voice to a conversation that rejects violence, embraces international law, and helps the global community pursue a just peace for all the people of the Holy Land.
Advancing a better future for Palestinians and Israelis is a matter of fundamental importance to us all. As John Lennon observed, “Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend”. I would be happy to discuss all this with you further. More food for thought, here is the public statement Nick Mason and I issued last May referencing the similarities of this campaign to the Sun City boycott in South Africa.
Your colleague,
Roger WatersAlan le respondió pero le pidió que no hiciese pública la respuesta a lo que Waters contestó lo siguiente:
Dear Alan,
I will honor your request not to publish your response to my letter, but note that your argument is similar to that of the few other musicians who have crossed the picket line to play in Israel.
I regret that you have decided, for now at least, to stand with the minority of artists and academics who support the policies of the current Israeli government.
But, by all means, let us continue our dialogue.
I, for my part, will be open and clear. My own decision to join BDS was formed by my experience in front of the Apartheid Wall that this and previous Israeli governments have built, and continue to build. Hopefully, should you visit the occupied territories, you will have a similar moment of insight.
I see from your bio that you played in Israel in 2010, a year after Operation Cast Lead, when you might have been forgiven for not knowing any better. Now, it is a year after Operation Protective Edge, when the al-Kilani family (see photograph accompanying this post) were killed. If we didn’t know before, we do now. If you go through with your visit maybe you will be as shaken as I was back in 2006/7.
By ignoring the boycott, you are turning your back on a beleaguered people who are desperately in need of your support. Even at this late hour, please reconsider.
Your colleague,
Roger Waters
PS: I attach for your consideration two documents. The first is a Newsweek article about a report commissioned by the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights. It details Israel’s human rights violations (using human shields, etc.) during Israel’s bombing campaign against Gaza last Summer. Approximately 2,200 Palestinians, including over 500 children, were killed and more than 100,000 people were displaced from their homes.
http://www.newsweek.com/report-accuses-israel-human-rights-abuses-during-summer-war-301275
Secondly, here is a report from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, which investigated 70 incidents in Gaza. In each one, at least three people were killed inside their home.
Black Flag – The legal and moral implications of the policy of attacking residential buildings in the Gaza Strip, summer 2014
http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201501_black_flagParsons pasó de contestar y se limitó a poner un tweet en el que decía sentirse feliz de estar en Israel y enlazaba el post del que he copiado la información, publicado en un famoso blog pro-israelí:
http://www.israellycool.com/2015/02/08/roger-waters-try-to-project-his-israel-hatred-on-to-alan-parsons-fails-miserably/El último capítulo es esta entrada de Waters en facebook decepcionado con Parsons:
Dear Alan,
It was with profound disappointment that I saw you posted this link on your Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/alanparsons/posts/10153127029387958
It is painful to see an important debate lowered to this level of unhelpful mudslinging. To be clear, despite this blogger’s claim, I do not hate Israel – or Israelis or Jews. Along with my many Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, and Arab colleagues, I seek ways to make sense of the current deadly debacle and to encourage a solution that gives equal rights to all the peoples of these troubled lands. The end of the occupation, a primary aim of BDS, is generally acknowledged in the wider debate as a pre-requisite to any peaceful, just, and lasting solution.
Your resorting to posting ad hominem attacks against me from an obscure extremist website informs the conversation not at all and serves only to muddy the already muddy waters. I continue to hope that while in Israel you took the time to take a look at the Separation Wall – from both sides and to educate yourself further on the injustices Palestinians are routinely subjected to by Israeli military forces. I refer often to a just and lawful resolution of this conflict to the benefit of all the people of the“Holy Land” to provide an environment where all their children, regardless of race or religion, could prosper, equal under the law. I know you have stated that your last words were your final words on these subjects. So be it. Those of us who still dare to dream of peace will continue the conversation without you. For us, “Not to talk is not an option”.
Peace
Your colleague,
Roger Waters
PS: For those of you still interested in the conversation:
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is also castigated in the cited article. I would like to note that its director, Raji Sourani, is a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureate and has been recognized around the world for his efforts, including with theRight Livelihood Award or "alternative Nobel Peace Prize." For the record, The New York Times cites nearly 2200 Palestinians killed (a number close to that of PCHR). If you dispute the facts, as the website Alan linked to does, I would encourage you to read the devastating reporting of Anne Barnard and Tyler Hicks.
