ARTSPIA NEWS - SENZA ARTE NE' PARTE : ISRAELE BLOCCA ALLA FRONTIERA KHALED JARRAR. IL NOTO ARTISTA PALESTINESE ERA IN PARTENZA PER NEW YORK DOVE LO ASPETTAVA UNA MOSTRA AL NEW MUSEUM. ECCO IL SUO RACCONTO

Khaled Jarrar

Domenica 13 luglio all'artista palestinese Khaled Jarrar, la polizia di frontiera di Israele nega il permesso di uscire dal paese.

Jarrar è artista noto.lavora con foto,performance, film,installazioni. Ha toccato nei suoi lavori temi sociali, religiosi e politici e ha partecipato a film festival e biennali d'arte da Londra a Berlino.

Era in partenza per New York dove lo aspettava il New Museum per la collettiva “Here and Elsewere” curata da Massimiliano Gioni e il Whitebox Art Center dove era in programma una sua personale dal 24 luglio dal profetico titolo “ No Exit”.

Bloccato alla frontiera ha annunciato che parteciperà comunque via Skype. E intanto ha inviato questa testimonianza

Riceviamo e volentieri pubblichiamo

khaled jarrar at the checkpoint

Khaled Jarrar

' "ZE ZEVEL" – That means, "he is garbage!" When I was trying to cross Allenby Bridge as usual, I heard one soldier say this to his superior officer, while they were arguing about me in Hebrew. That was the only word that I could understand from their discussion. Allenby Bridge is my only gate to the world. Amman is the only place from where I can fly to the world. Yesterday I was denied exit from the West Bank. I was surprised, because never before did the Israelis prevent me from traveling. I was shocked that I was sent back and couldn't cross Allenby Bridge. People tried to help me and reached out to the authorities. Everything was checked, but after a very long wait and without understanding what was happening, I was informed "security reasons" would prevent me from traveling until the 1st of August. For now that means that I missed my morning flight from Amman to New York, that I will miss the opening of the show at the New Museum, and that I will miss the artist talk with Lamia Joreige and Charif Kiwan that is supposed to happen on the 16th of July.

Khaled Jarrar "Olympiad Palestine"-

Yesterday was the longest day of my life and a day of humiliation. I felt real racism on the part of the security at Allenby Bridge. When this one soldier was talking to his superior officer and I understood what he said ("ze zevel"), I shouted at him that I was no “zevel” and he was impolite to call me that. No one listened to me, like I did not even exist. It's a long story and it's the story of many people who are being denied from crossing Allenby Bridge for security reasons by order of the Israeli intelligence. On the day that I wanted to cross, it meant that I missed my flight to the USA, my first time traveling there, and my show. Another man, a PhD student, missed his flight to give a talk in Spain. Another man wanted to go to Amman to spend the last days of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with his family, but he was not allowed

Khaled Jarrar speaking from Ramallah 14 July