Radical-left Israeli NGO B’Tselem welcomed on Thursday the donation of prize money from the Man Booker International Prize won by David Grossman.
The Israeli writer won the prize on Wednesday evening for his novel "A Horse Walks Into a Bar," along with his US translator Jessica Cohen, with the two splitting the 50,000 pound ($64,000, 57,000 euros) award.
Cohen announced at the awards she would donate "half of the award money" to B'Tselem.
"For almost thirty years now they have been reporting on human rights violations committed in the occupied Palestinian territories," she said.
"It is not easy to tell uncomfortable and unflattering truths, and it's certainly not easy to hear them, but it is essential, not only in literature but in life."
B'Tselem spokesman Amit Gilutz welcomed the donation.
"We are thankful to her and we are determined to continue on our mission, which is to resist the occupation until it ends," he told AFP.
Grossman, the first Israeli to win the prize, is a member of the NGO's public council but told Army Radio Thursday he was wary of being a representative of any particular cause.
"When I write a story I don't think of it as an ambassador, or even as an honorary consul. I want to tell a story," he said.