New Delhi: A group of over 100 literary translators signed a statement in solidarity with the people of Gaza on November13, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the end to the violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The statement, organised by translators Anna Gunin and Maya Chhabra, addressed the connection translators had with writers from Gaza, despite the strip being “cut off from the rest of the world by a constant blockade since 2007.”
“The Palestinians who live [in Gaza] cannot leave without exit permits from Israel or Egypt,” the statement said. “Gaza’s airspace and sea border are both controlled by Israel. Yet writers from Gaza continue to reach out to tell the world what is happening to them. Sometimes they are killed just days or weeks after their words reach us.”
It said the translators watch “in horror as Israeli bombs fall on Gaza,” citing the current death toll in the area, which now stands at 11,200 people.
“Faced with this carnage, the undersigned literary translators feel morally compelled to oppose the devaluation of Palestinian civilian lives and to call for a ceasefire,” the statement said.
It also said the urgency does not apply only to Gaza, but the West Bank as well. Since Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is not controlled by Hamas.
“Soldiers abuse detainees; extremist settlers attack Palestinian civilians with impunity,” the statement said. “An equitable resolution that ends the occupation and enables Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and freedom seems as far away as ever.”
Despite the discouragement felt by Israel’s actions, the statement said the group believes peace is possible and that it starts with protecting civilians.
“We insist that Palestinian lives have equal value and that civilians must be protected at all times,” it said.
Of the translators who signed the statement included International Booker Prize winners Jennifer Croft, Daisy Rockwell and Deborah Smith, as well as Susan Bernofsky and Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
The statement ended by asking other translators and professionals in the field to join them in calling for an immediate ceasefire and lifting of the blockade in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages and “a just peace that ends the current domination of Palestinian life by the Israeli military occupation, and provides for the freedom, security, and civil and political rights of both peoples.”
The full list of signatories, according to LitHub, are:
Hosam Aboul-Ela
Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Kanika Agrawal
Sascha Akhtar
Nguyễn An Lý
Jocelyne Allen
Alexis Almeida
Kalau Almony
Stine An
Tomoko Aoyama
Sarah Ardizzone
Emily Balistrieri
Polly Barton
Kimrey Anna Batts
Brian Bergstrom
Susan Bernofsky
Rahul Bery
Tarun Bhartiya
Jenny Bhatt
Clarissa Botsford
Conor Bracken
Thomas Bunstead
Peter Bush
Charlène Busalli
Wendy Call
Hope Campbell Gustafson
Juliet Winters Carpenter
Bonnie Chau
Maya Chhabra
David Colmer
Charlotte Collins
David Constantine
Helen Constantine
Richard Coombes
Jennifer Croft
Sinéad Crowe
Howard Curtis
Marissa Davis
Sayari Debnath
Stephen Dodd
Ian Dreiblatt
Ilze Duarte
Patricia Dubrava
Miled Faiza
Pauline Fan
Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Meggie Felisberto
Will Firth
Alex Fleming
Morgan Giles
Claudia Gómes Oliveira
Katherine Gregor
Jason Grunebaum
Gioia Guerzoni
Anna Gunin
Kat Hall
Vighnesh Hampapura
Jein Han
Nicky Harman
Rosalind Harvey
Louise Heal Kawai
Linda Hess
Grace Holleran
Mette Holm
Amanda Hopkinson
Anton Hur
Sawad Hussain
Anne Marie Jackson
Nathan Jeffers
Jayasree Kalathil
Aruni Kashyap
Madhu Kaza
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Jenny Jisun Kim
David Larsen
Fathima E.V.
Janet Elizabeth Lee
Sophia Rebecca Lewis
Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Bruna Dantas Lobato
Archana Madhavan
Ruth Martin
Janet McAdams
Paul McCarthy
David McKay
Florencia Milito
Paige Morris
Ainsley Morse
Ottilie Mulzet
Rob Myatt
Shabnam Nadiya
Nashwa Nasreldin
Takami Nieda
Greg Nissan
Lulu Norman
Lucy North
Kathleen Maris Paltrineri
paparouna
Zoë Perry
Francoise Pinteaux-Jones
Namrata Poddar
Y. Radhika
Mahmud Rahman
Ramaswamy
Oliver Ready
Gabi Reigh
Clare Richards
Louise Rogers Lalaurie
Larry Rosenwald
Julia Sanches
Ros Schwartz
Timon Screech
Trista Selous
Vaibhav Sharma
Moazzam Sheikh
Arunava Sinha
Nichola Smalley
Deborah Smith
D.P. Snyder
Isabel Stainsby
Corine Tachtiris
Ginny Tapley Takemori
Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún
Elton Uliana
Daisy Rockwell
Rachel Valinsky
Katherine Van de Vate
Christina Vega-Westhoff
Alison Watts
Yilin Wang
Shaun Whiteside
Emily Yae Won
Jonathan Wright
Frank Wynne
Roy Youdale
Jeffrey Zuckerman