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July 5, 2002/Tamuz 25 5762, Vol. 54, No. 42
Group blasts destruction of Palestinian culture
MAX HEUER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - The largest association of libraries in the world has passed a resolution deploring the destruction of Palestinian libraries and cultural resources during Israel's invasion of the West Bank this spring.
The resolution by the council of the American Library Association, the organization's governing policy body, was toned down from an earlier version. That version, debated at the group's convention last month in Atlanta, directly blamed the Israeli government for the destruction.
But the resolution still is sparking criticism, with the Anti-Defamation League calling it "one-sided" and "troubling and wrong."
Yahel Vilan, consul for public affairs at the Israeli Consulate in New York, denied that the Israeli army was to blame for any damage to Palestinian libraries or cultural institutions, stating that areas "used as a safe haven for terrorists and snipers" may "be caught in the cross fire."
The new resolution calls for an international investigation by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, a group that in previous years has used U.N. funding to rebuild libraries in war-stricken countries like Kosovo.
The final resolution states only that the ALA, which has 450,000 members, "deplores the destruction of library and cultural resources anywhere in the world, and therefore the destruction of these (Palestinian) library and cultural resources."
"We don't target libraries, we don't burn books," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington. "This would seem, on face value, to be an anti-Israel resolution."
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