A threat of boycott hangs over the Turin book fair

The international book fair in Turin, to be held May 8th -12th, is due to receive Israeli writers as guests of honour. This choice has triggered a polemic in Italy, where a boycott has been called for. The editorialist and Italian deputy Khaled Fouad Allam, of Algerian origin, deplores this campaign. "The book fair is a laboratory for freedom among men and cultures. It is humanity that will loose out if this freedom is restricted. We should not however overlook the question of the Palestinian drama and the urgency of a Palestinian State capable of living democratically alongside the State of Israel. We Arabs, meanwhile, if we wish to progress, should understand the fundamental significance of forgetting or remembering a martyred population's bloodshed and tears."

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