EDITOR: The memory of Juliano Mer-Khamis in Jenin
While abroad memorials are held in many cities for the courageous and innovative activist, the picture at the Jenin camp is more complex, with residents there being much more critical than supportive. One feels deep sadness about Juliano, who has given his life for this activity, like his mother before him, yet remained unrecognised as an important fighter for Palestinian rights, exactly where he acted and worked. It seems his work was a bridge too far for the inhabitatnts of the camp. His theatre was always demanding and uncompromising, and his critique of the PA, while shared by many in Palestine, was too much when coming from an outsider.
Juliano Mer-Khamis – a killing inspired by drama, not politics: The Guardian
Jenin residents claim public opinion turned on director for performing plays that went against Islamic conservative values
Conal Urquhart in Jenin
Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead earlier this month. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
He wanted to create an “art revolution” to help liberate the Palestinian people, but he only managed to alienate those he most wanted to inspire.
The murder earlier this month of Juliano Mer-Khamis was condemned all over the world but met with a grim silence by the residents of the Jenin refugee camp where he founded his Freedom Theatre. It has emerged that the residents of the camp had serious grievances against the actor-director that may have provided the excuses for an unknown gunman to kill him.
The 52-year-old, born of a Jewish mother and Palestinian father, attracted funding from the UN, Sweden and the UK for his theatre school and productions but many camp residents found his activities offensive.
His death and attitudes to the theatre highlight the conflict of interest between western donors, local elites and the populations they aim to aid; between liberal western values of freedom of expression and a more conservative, traditional world view.
A fatwa-style leaflet circulated in Jenin this week and seen by the Guardian, lists criticisms of Mer-Khamis and suggests that the final impetus for the murder was his plan to stage a controversial German play that explores teenage sexuality.
Mer-Khamis’s mother, Arna, started a drama workshop in Jenin to help children traumatised by the first intifada which began in 1987. In 2002, Mer-Khamis returned to Jenin after the Israeli army’s destruction of a large part of the refugee camp and the theatre his mother founded. He discovered that many of the children his mother had worked with had become gunmen and suicide bombers which he documented in his award-winning film, Arna’s Children.
But he decided that he wanted to continue his mother’s work and create a platform for Palestinian youth to stand up to authority through creativity rather than violence. The Freedom Theatre taught theatre and acting to students, including former gunmen, and staged plays such as Animal Farm and Alice in Wonderland which satirised Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
But while Mer-Khamis entertained thousands and inspired devotion among his disciples, his methods disturbed conservative groups in the refugee camp. The theatre was firebombed twice and Mer-Khamis often envisaged his death at the hands of “a crazy Palestinian gunman”.
A community leader said that Mer-Khamis was respected in the camp for highlighting damage inflicted by the Israeli army but his creation of a politically and social liberal theatre was more controversial.
Adnan al-Hindi, the chairman of the refugee camp’s “popular committee” said that Mer-Khamis had very different values and ideas from the residents, which caused disagreements.
The nature of the disputes varied. Local leaders were offended when David Milliband, the British foreign secretary, visited the theatre in 2009 without co-ordination with Palestinian officials. They were also offended by groups of theatre visitors touring the camp and by comments made by Mer-Khamis in interviews.
“He said that his message was to liberate citizens from the authority of their leaders and children from their parents. Then there was mixing of sexes and dancing. We tried to discuss it with him and persuade him that he was mistaken but to no avail. Public opinion turned against him,” said Hindi.
Inside the camp, rebuilt since its partial destruction in 2002, people were reluctant to speak about Mer-Khamis. A group of elderly women sitting by the roadside, gave their opinion: “God only knows what happened but the theatre was a shameful place.”
A butcher was more forthcoming. Standing in a small room with a portrait of Saddam Hussein and a sparsely stocked cold cabinet, he said he and others were offended by the theatre. “We are Muslims. We have traditions. We looked for our children and found them at the theatre dancing. If he came here to bring jobs that would be good but instead he comes here to corrupt our girls and make women of our boys,” he said.
The leaflet justifying the killing of Mer-Khamis also demands the closure of the theatre and other western organisations, including the British Kenyon Institute, under threat of “jihadi action”.
The leaflet attacks Mer-Khamis for his belief in co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians, “as if we could live with those who stole our land and killed our children”.
It goes on to attack his plays: “What kind of resistance [to occupation] is the play Animal Farm, which made the young men of Palestine bark like dogs and lick the ground in shame and the young women wear the costumes of pigs and roll around the ground in degeneracy?”
The leaflet describes Mer-Khamis as a Jew, a communist and an infidel. “He was not killed for a scene in a play. He was killed for the accumulation of his activities since he came here,” it says.
Mer-Khamis’s most recent project, Spring Awakening, is singled out for particular criticism. The play by Frank Wedekind was banned in Germany in 1891 for its portrayal of teenage sexuality. In recent years a musical adaptation won awards in London and New York.
The leaflet then refers to a telephone conversation between Mer-Khamis and the Arab-Israeli actor, Makram Khouri, in which Khouri advises his friend not to stage the play. According to theatre staff, very few people were aware of the conversation.
The leaflet then praises the man from Jenin refugee camp who carried out the killing. “He did not do it with a silencer, or in the dark but in broad daylight, face to face, and he made sure not to harm the woman and child who were in the car at the time,” the leaflet says.
Palestinian police say that their investigation into the murder continues.
Meanwhile, at the theatre staff remain determined to continue the work of Mer-Khamis despite a sense of paranoia that the killer had a connection to the theatre.
Rawand Arkavi, the theatre co-ordinator who is from Jenin, said: “We were cautious before but now we don’t care if they shoot all of us. We will keep the theatre going.”
Syria urged to end deadly repression: Al Jazeera English
Obama leads condemnation and accuses Damascus of seeking Iranian help as dozens reported killed in latest protests.
Barack Obama, the US president, has said Syria’s deadly crackdown on protesters “must come to an end now” and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people.
Some 75 protesters were killed on Friday, according to human rights group Amnesty International, in the bloodiest violence in a month of escalating protests against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Local activists have released a list of 103 people who they say were killed in Friday’s crackdown.
“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” said Obama on Friday, dismissing as “not serious” Assad’s lifting of a decades-old emergency law in Syria this week and accused him of seeking help from Iran.
“Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies,” he said.
“We strongly oppose the Syrian government’s treatment of its citizens and we continue to oppose its continued destabilising behaviour more generally, including support for terrorism and terrorist groups,” said Obama.
Despite the criticism, Obama did not refer to any potential US consequences should Assad refuse to heed his demands.
UN demands ‘independent’ investigation
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, meanwhile, has condemned the Syrian government’s killing of demonstrators, calling for an “independent, transparent and effective investigation into the killings”, his spokesman said on Friday.
“The secretary-general condemns the ongoing violence against peaceful demonstrators in Syria, which again has killed and injured many today, and calls for it to stop immediately,” Farhan Haq, Ban’s spokesman, said from the UN headquarters in New York.
Ban said that President Assad’s government must “respect international human rights, including the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as the freedom of the press”.
The UN secretary-general stressed that “only an inclusive dialogue and the effective implementation of reforms can address the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and ensure social peace and order”.
European condemnation
Jerzy Buzek, the European Parliament chief on Friday also condemned the shooting deaths of protesters in Syria and called for the release of all prisoners of conscience.
“Today’s violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations all over Syria is unacceptable. The bloodshed has to stop now: this is the government’s first and foremost responsibility,” he said in a statement.
“Any form of violence against peaceful demonstrators must stop: no more killing, no more torture, no more arbitrary arrests. An independent investigation into the deaths of protesters has to be carried out.”
France also urged Syrian authorities to halt their use of violence on anti-government protesters.
“We call on them once more to engage in an inclusive political dialogue without delay and to put into place reforms that respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people,” said deputy spokeswoman Christine Fages, deputy spokeswoman for the foreign ministry.
She also called for the release of those arrested and for respecting basic rights, including media freedom and the right to hold peaceful demonstrations.
Peak of violence
At least 75 people were killed on Friday as security forces use live ammunition and tear gas to quell anti-government protests across the country, according to human rights group Amnesty International.
Friday’s death toll was one of the bloodiest in protests for democratic change – the first since emergency rule was imposed by the ruling Baath Party when it seized power in 1963.
Amnesty International called for an immediate end to the attacks on protesters and for an investigation into the deadly events.
“The Syrian authorities have again responded to peaceful calls for change with bullets and batons,” said Malcolm Smart, the London-based organisation’s director for the Middle East.
“They must immediately halt their attacks on peaceful protesters and instead allow Syrians to gather freely, as international law demands.”
Report: Turkey shows support for Palestinian efforts to seek UN recognition: Haaretz
Turkey’s Ambassador to the UN reportedly says the Palestinian Authority has proved they deserve to attain internationally recognized statehood, while the Turkish president says an Israeli-Palestinian deal is essential for peace in the region.
In a report published Saturday in the Turkish daily, Today’s Zaman, the Turkish Ambassador to the UN expressed his support for Palestinian statehood, urging the international community to follow suit.
“The time has come to show solidarity with the Palestinians and help them to live in peace and dignity,” said the Turkish Ambassador to the UN Ertuğrul Apakan during a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East on Thursday.
According to the report in Today’s Zaman, Apakan said that if the Palestinians prove they are ready to become a full UN member, instead of maintaining their current observer status, the international community should not “turn a blind eye to their just and legitimate appeal.”
“Through their state building efforts, the Palestinian Authority has proven to all the skeptics that they deserve to attain their decades-long target of internationally recognized statehood, even though they continue to suffer under occupation,” said Apakan, according to the report.
In a New York Times editorial Thursday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke of the importance of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He said that a “dignified and viable Palestine,” living side by side with Israel, would fortify Israel’s security.
According to the report, Gul said that the plight of the Palestinians has been a cause of unrest and conflict in the Middle East and a pretext for extremism in other parts of the world. “Israel cannot afford to be perceived as an apartheid island surrounded by an Arab sea of anger and hostility,” said the Turkish president.
He added that Turkey would benefit from a peaceful Middle East and is “therefore ready to use our full capacity to facilitate constructive negotiations.”
Israel’s relationship with Turkey, once a key Mideast ally, has severely deteriorated since the Gaza war of the winter of 2008-2009, after which Ankara had severely criticized Jerusalem for use of excessive force in a dense civilian population.
The ties between the once stanch allies continued to worsen following Israel’s raid on a Turkish Gaza aid flotilla in May of 2010, which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists.
Turkey has repeatedly urged Israel to apologize for its boarding of the Gaza flotilla, demanding that it compensate the families of those injured and killed in the incident, demands that were rejected by Israel.
Recently, Turkish officials indicated they rejected a request from Israel to help stop activists sailing to Gaza on the first anniversary of an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship, saying flotilla plan was not Ankara’s concern.
The Free Gaza Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist umbrella group, has said that a flotilla expected in late May would comprise 15 ships with international passengers including Europeans and Americans.
Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, Gaby Levy, asked the Turkish government this month to help stop the activists, saying sending humanitarian aide to Gaza outside legal channels was a “provocation,” an Israeli diplomatic official told Reuters.
According to the report in Today’s Zaman, the Turkish ambassador the UN said, “It should also be borne in mind that the phenomenon of humanitarian convoys to Gaza cannot simply be explained away as unilateral provocations.”