Israeli officials have prevented Palestinian artist and filmmaker Khaled Jarrar from leaving Palestine.“‘Ze zevel.’ That means, ‘He is garbage!’” Jarrar recounted. “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.”
Stopped Sunday, July 13, Jarrar was en route to New York to participate in events around “Here and Elsewhere,” an exhibition of more than 45 artists from over 15 countries in the Arab world, now up at the city’s New Museum.
Assembling established, neglected figures and younger and midcareer artists, “Here and Elsewhere” sets out to work “against the notion of the Arab world [as] a homogenous or cohesive entity. Through the original and individualized practices of a multigenerational constellation of artists, the exhibition highlights works that often have conceptual or aesthetic references to the Arab world, yet also extend well beyond.”
“I was surprised [to be denied exit from the West Bank],” Jarrar continued, “because never before did the Israelis prevent me from traveling. ... 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.”
Jarrar will also miss the opening of his solo project (now retitled “No Exit”), opening at the city’s Whitebox Art Center on July 24. He intends to be present via Skype chat.
The artist described July 13 as “a day of humiliation. I felt real racism on the part of [Israeli] security. ... 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. ... Another man, a Ph.D. 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.”
