What Goes for 'Art'

Barbican's tribute to 1948 accused of demonising Israel

As far as the organisers of the exhibition are concerned, these photographs of Arab refugees, displaced from their homes in Israel in 1948, are merely an artistic slice of life from a dramatic point in Middle Eastern history.

...Lior Ben-Dor, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy, said the language used in the exhibition...did not reflect reality.

He claimed it ignored the fact that the "refugee problem" was caused by Arabs refusing to accept a United Nations resolution for the establishment of a Jewish state alongside an Arab one. "They refused a UN resolution and started a war. The result of war was the creation of a refugee problem," Mr Ben-Dor added.

He also criticised the Barbican for not staging an Israeli film festival for 18 years, despite repeated requests, yet regularly hosting a Palestinian festival, the latest of which closes this week. "We would like for them to open their doors to us," Mr Ben-Dor said. "The embassy would be very happy if the Barbican chose to balance its activities with the Palestinian Film Festival with an Israeli one."

Last night, the Barbican dismissed the accusations and insisted it would not bow to political pressure. It said it had received only two other complaints and defended the decision to stage the show, as well as the language used in the captions.

It said: "We appreciate that interpretations of historical events can potentially be controversial and may inspire strong reactions, but are clear that decisions on such matters need to sit firmly with our artistic and curatorial team.

"This exhibition is a serious, thought-provoking examination of the issue of home and exile, juxtaposing portraits of Palestinian exiles with present-day images of the places that they left in 1948."

London's Palestinian Film Festival is Europe's biggest and has been held at the Barbican for four years. The centre is planning a Yiddish film festival next year, and there was an Israeli Cinema Showcase across the capital earlier this month.

For Mr Hoffman, though, a celebration of Yiddish cinema is not enough. "If the Barbican thinks a Yiddish film season in 2009 goes any way towards balancing four successive years of Palestinian film festivals, they are wrong. It is about as much balance as would be putting chicken soup and salt beef on their restaurant menu."

...The London-based Palestinian Solidarity Campaign insisted that the language used was "appropriate" and hailed the festival and exhibition as a success. Its spokesman, Martial Kurtz, said: "It is widely accepted that the creation of Israel involved massacres and villages being erased."