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West Bank exhibition closed to 'keep peace'
Wednesday 14 May, 2008 12:02am
AN EXHIBITION about the West Bank city of Hebron was pulled down after state counter-terrorism officers visited Leichhardt library last Thursday afternoon.
On Friday the council closed the exhibition, titled El Nakbar (the catastrophe), saying it could ignite community unrest.
Exhibition organisers, Friends of Hebron, blasted the council decision as "gutless". Group member Carole Lawson said the library's manager approved all but one of the panels before the display opened on Wednesday last week.
"She read every caption and looked at the whole exhibition. She was happy with it and said it was suitable for a community space," Ms Lawson said.
"She told me that they (police officers) put the fear of God into the library staff and described them as 'the men in black'. We're being censored as a group. It's denying the Palestinian story oxygen."
The display included photographs of Palestinian children walking to school, apparently being pelted with rocks by Israeli children, and burning houses.
Ms Lawson said the council panicked and pulled the exhibition after counter-terrorism officers asked to see the material to judge if it was inflammatory.
But a council spokesman said the decision was made by the libraries director David Marshall, mayor Carolyn Allen and the librarian after the exhibition was hung and they'd had the chance to fully examine it.
"The written description of some of the images and the headlines were clearly divisive in a public library," the spokesman said.
"The (counter-terrorism) officers didn't tell the council to do anything."
A NSW Police spokesman denied pressure was put on the council to close down the exhibition.
Community contact unit officers from the counter-terrorism command were "just down there as part of their normal duties", he said.
"The officers didn't even talk to the council, they just went down to the library to meet the display organisers just to say 'hi' and introduce themselves," the spokesman said. "They didn't go down for the exhibition."
Cr Allen said the council wasn't out to censor information but to keep the peace.
"I don't want to pit separate groups of ratepayers against each other," she said.
"It's not a matter of stopping people making statements."
She said the group hadn't followed the proper process agreed to last September when they were formed.
All projects related to Hebron had to go through the four-councillor panel and Jewish group Inner West Chavurah had to be consulted.
Judy Singer from Inner West Chavurah said she wasn't against the exhibition, but the group hadn't followed procedure.
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