From besieged Gaza to Tricky: show us solidarity and boycott apartheid Israel


rom@nski Wikipedia

Dear Tricky, dear Adrian,


In 1948, Israel ethnically cleansed the Palestinian people from their land in order to systematically form an exclusivist Jewish state. It has since denied Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and their lands. Palestinian refugees, scattered throughout the world and displaced inside their country, today constitute more than seven million people, which roughly corresponds to seventy percent of all living Palestinians.



In fact, I was struck — in a very powerful way — after reading the description on your website of your latest single, “My Palestine Girl:”


Reading your words, I’ve decided to write you very briefly, partly about life in Gaza, and partly in the hopes that you will open communication with me as a Palestinian woman in Gaza. Here, in Gaza, where I have been living all my life, we have been subjected to a criminal, inhumane and immoral siege since 2006.

The siege is considered illegal as it represents a form of collective punishment and entirely hampers the freedom of our movement and our access to the most life-saving services such as health and education. As part of this siege, Israel has prevented not only various types of medicines, candles, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, blankets, pasta and chocolate, but also musical instruments. We are literally caged inside this overcrowded, tormented and strangulated enclave, and face a very tight Israeli security cordon that has sharply restricted our movement in and out — including even international solidarity activists and cultural figures who try to reach the 1.8 million Palestinians incarcerated in the world’s largest open-air prison.

The future becomes unimaginable and hope is hard to maintain. Could you sing for us in Gaza under these conditions, Adrian? Would the Israelis allow us to attend your show? The answer is an unequivocal no.




Please don’t be persuaded by the argument that music builds bridges and can bring smiles to people’s faces, thus ultimately spreading peace! We hear no music here, but buzzing drones, bombs and F16s! Again, “It’s a political thing.” And this is why I am convinced of the importance of artists’ public stances backing the cultural boycott of Israel since it applies the continual pressure that’s needed. Many prominent international cultural figures and artists, including John Berger, Ken Loach, Arundhati Roy, Roger Waters, Sting, Snoop Dog, among others, have also heeded our call and cancelled their participation in festivals or gigs in Israel. Recently, more than 900 influential British artists have signed on to a cultural boycott of Israel.


As these words are penned, I have no electricity and the only source of light I have is that of the laptop screen. My heart is truly broken for all the undignified suffering we are witnessing and for being confined and unable to smell the air of freedom like other human beings. The deprivation of our basic rights under the siege has not only been physical but also mental, cultural and psychological. Under a siege, life is reduced to existence or survival as we are dying slowly without medicine, adequate food and electricity and cooking gas. Culture stagnates as there are no resources or mental space for anything beyond the mundane — even to engage in an artistic and cultural discussion is a luxury for people living in Gaza­.


Please think through Israel’s abhorrent trespasses and say no to performing in Israel. 

Yours sincerely,

From besieged and occupied Gaza, Ayah Bashir




Dear Tricky, dear Adrian,



This is a very powerful appeal and argument for an artist to boycott Israel. It is a true statement about the sorry state of artists' awareness about what is happening in the world if this argument has to be repeated so often. It is also a sorry statement about the Palestinian leadership's ineffectiveness in projecting the Palestinian message, and appeal for solidarity.<br><br>
Ayah Bashir's argument is very good but there is a minor issue about the usage of the term "collective punishment". What the Israelis perpetrated against Gaza in the past, and the ongoing siege, are not collective punishment. Such a term suggests that the Palestinians did something and the Israelis "retaliate/respond" - these are terms the Israeli propagandists are eager to use. Furthermore, "punishment" suggests that the Palestinians were naughty and responsible for whatever action, and thus are responsible for whatever ensuing Israeli violence; Israelis would like you to <i>understand</i> their violence. The history of Israeli attacks on Gaza have nothing to do with "punishment" but all to do with ethnically cleansing the area and taking over the land. The recent major attacks, and the siege, have all to do with creating misery to drive the people off the land. All this violence perpetrated against the Palestinians has all to do with Israeli intentions, and they therefore should be labelled with terms that indicate direct Israeli responsibility. Thus the Israelis "attack" Gaza, and not "collectively punish" Gaza. Similarly, the siege is systematic starvation of the population. These terms imply Israeli responsibility for the misery they have inflicted.


No way Tricky, do your home work, you can't go there and play. Take some time to have a look at what they are doing to those Palestinians, they don't just hassle them a bit, they are killing them off! Its the worst time to go to Israel. I'd hate to see the press after you go, people are not going to love quite so much.
Take a look and and I am sure that you will agree.


Dear Ayah,
I salute you for the extraordinary effort you have exerted to persuade Tricky not to go to Israel. Specially so, under the wretched conditions that you, a highly educated & cultered scholar, together with all the people of Gaza, are being subjected to by Israel. We are living in unfair times, as inflicted by our main oppressor, namely Israel, in addition to countries & regimes that support Israel, both politically & financially, in its continuous agressions against the Palestinian people living in Gaza. But let me assure you, Ayah, that the situation in Gaza will change once Israel recognizes the fact that the Palestinians living in Gaza will not succumb to all the pressures they're being subjected to: its a war of testing the will power of the Gazans, & how long can they survive the siege inflicted on them.
With my due respect & admiration to your goodself & my heartiest regards & good wishes to you & to all people living in Gaza.

Ayah Abubasheer

Ayah Abubasheer's picture

Ayah Abubasheer holds a master’s degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She can be followed on Twitter at: @Ayah_Gaza