Sunday, April 06, 2008

" Hanania said that after he joined the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour, he had gigs cancelled by five Arab-American organizations because of his performance alongside Israelis. But what Hanania doesn't mention is his problematic perspective on the Palestine-Israel conflict. In December 2007, Hanania wrote an article for The Jerusalem Post titled "Getting past normalization," in which he states Palestinians refuse to accept reality (i.e. normalization of Israeli occupation) and is critical of Palestinians for refusing to work with Israelis even when doing so would undermine their struggle against the occupation. Ironically, this is a man who says through his comedy he is "defining the moderate Palestinian Arab voice, offering reason to the American, Israeli and Arab public," according to his website. Yet in the same Jerusalem Post article, Hanania calls the Israeli occupation of Palestine, a "self-imposed imprisonment."" (thanks Sousan)