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Sally Rooney, Esteemed writer Deborah Levy, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, as well as Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among a group of twenty writers calling upon French president Emmanuel Macron to reinstate a critical evacuation initiative for Palestinian writers, academics and creatives from Gaza.

Initiative Halt Over Alleged Remarks

The Pause programme for authors and creatives facing crises, as well as a academic rescue effort, were suddenly halted by the French government in early August over a Gazan scholar’s reportedly hateful online remarks—a decision that the petitioning writers described as amounted to a “collective punishment”.

“In our capacity as authors, we strongly encourage you to reinstate this vital program as soon as possible, and to urge global leaders to establish comparable initiatives”, says the letter, delivered to the Élysée Palace on Friday.

Notable Signatories

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

Initiative’s Origins

This assistance effort was set up by the French government and the prestigious academic institution in 2017 to help foreign researchers, researchers, thinkers and artists who find themselves in emergency situations. It has since been used French talent visas and practical support 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 Palestinian artists, authors and academics along with relatives have been sheltered in France through Pause and France’s student evacuation programme.

Government Response

However, on 1 August, foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that “all rescue operations” would proceed while authorities were investigating allegedly antisemitic statements posted by a female student who had arrived in France from Gaza during summer and was due to start attending classes at Sciences Po Lille University in the autumn.

“This suspension of rescue efforts on the basis of a single incident of a racist social media post is a type of group retribution at a time when all signatories to the Genocide Conventions should be doing their utmost to protect Gazans from destruction and should refuse to be complicit in crimes against humanity”, the letter to the president says.