This interview with David Caminada from the newspaper Avui from Barcelona took place at the localities of the Catalan PEN Club at the Ateneu in Barcelona on March 24, 2006,, and was published in their print edition on March 28, 2006 on page 16. Avui is the main newspaper appearing in Catalan language in the region of Catalunya..


A tentative translation of this interview from Catalan follows.

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"The solution is an end of the occupation and one single State"

Hebron - We Palestinians are suffering a genocide; cancer patients are not allowed to go to a hospital if their relatives will not work as spies" (for the occupation) - Criticism - The Palestinian Authority has not provided for the needs of the Palestinian society" By David Caminada.

Kawther Salam, who has come to Barcelona invited by the PEN Club, started working as a journalist for the Arab newspaper Al-Fajr from Jerusalem in the early eighties. She is author of documentary films like "Hebron, City without Mercy" and "Detained". She has denounced the illegal colonies and the abuses of human rights by the Israelis in Hebron as well as the corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Salam lives in exile in Vienna because of "security reasons" adduced by the israeli military commanders in Hebron. Because of this she has not been able to enter her house in Hebron any more.

You have denounced the occupation, which you had to suffer in Hebron, where about 500 jewish colonists live among 130.000 Palestinians. What can you tell me ?
I have nothing against the israelis. I have israeli friends. What I denounce is the occupation and the abuses by the military commanders and his soldiers. We Palestinians suffer genocide and apartheid. Not even our most fundamental rights are respected. In Hebron there are streets which are arbitrarily closed. For a way of a few meters the people must walk for over an hour. The israelis do not allow the circulation of ambulances. I know cases of cancer patients who would not be allowed to receive medical treatment if their relatives would not spy for the israeli intelligence. As a woman and a journalist I have been subject to threats for many years.

Hamas has come to power. Are you optimistic for the future ?
Hamas will not be able to change anything. The Palestinian Authority has not provided for the needs of the Palestinian society. For me the solution is an end to the israeli occupation, the establishment of one state for Arabs and Jews, with one law, one parliament, one government. But I don't see a will to peace on neither side. We will have to wait for another generation.