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Sally Rooney, Esteemed writer Deborah Levy, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen form part of a group of twenty writers urging France's leader Emmanuel Macron to resume a critical evacuation initiative for Gazan authors, academics and creatives from Gaza.

Initiative Halt Due to Disputed Comments

The Pause programme for writers and artists facing crises, as well as a student evacuation programme, were abruptly suspended by the authorities in France in early August following a Palestinian student’s allegedly antisemitic online remarks—an action that the petitioning writers said amounted to a “collective punishment”.

“In our capacity as authors, we urge you to restore this lifeline without delay, and to urge global leaders to establish comparable initiatives”, says the appeal, which was sent to the Élysée Palace on Friday.

Prominent Supporters

Additional supporters comprise Nobel winners Abdulrazak Gurnah and JMG Le Clézio, along with Anne Enright, Leïla Slimani, Madeleine Thien, Édouard Louis, Isabella Hammad, Didier Eribon, Naomi Klein, Max Porter, Alain Damasio, Mathias Énard, Kapka Kassabova, Karim Kattan and Rashid Khalidi.

Background of the Programme

This assistance effort was established by the national authorities in partnership with the Collège de France in 2017 to support international scholars, researchers, intellectuals and artists stranded in emergency situations. The program has provided special residency permits and essential aid for individuals from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan among other nations.

Assistance to Palestinians

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, a total of 31 Gazan creatives, writers and academics and their families have been sheltered in France through these evacuation initiatives.

Official Reaction

However, on 1 August, foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared that “all rescue operations” would continue while officials examined allegedly antisemitic statements posted by a woman scholar who had entered the country from Gaza during summer and was scheduled to begin classes at a French institute in the autumn.

“This suspension of evacuation programmes because of a single incident involving offensive online content is a type of group retribution when all signatories to the international genocide laws should be making every effort to protect Gazans from destruction and must avoid involvement in atrocities”, the letter to the president states.