Palestinian theater company visits New York City

New York City welcomed students and staff of the Jenin Freedom Theatre on Oct. 27. Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre and the Peace & Justice Task Force of All Souls Church in Manhattan presented the event. The older students told about their lives and what it means to engage in “Creation Under Occupation.”

The Freedom Theatre is a community-based children’s theatre, founded in Jenin in 2006.

Jenin is a West Bank Palestinian city, a refugee camp with a population of 16,000. Twenty percent of the residents are under 20. It is one of the most deprived areas of Occupied Palestine. Its people live in poverty and isolation. They are surrounded by electrified fences constructed by Israel’s repressive government.

The Israeli military bombed and invaded Jenin in 2002, traumatizing and terrifying the children, who witnessed violence, destruction and death or the threat of it.

Jenin’s children were described as “the walking dead” before the theatre was established. They suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder. Many wished for death as a solution and permanent escape from Israel’s tyranny and repression.

The theatre gave them an opportunity to heal while living in an uncertain present and facing an unknown future. It also gave them the strength and confidence to face the world.

In April, Juliano Mer Khamis, the theatre’s co-founder and director, was assassinated by Israeli forces outside the theatre. In late July, after continuing to harass the staff, Israeli soldiers attacked the theatre. They arrested Adnan Naghaghiye, the facilities manager, and Bilal Saadi, board chairperson, and took them to Jalame prison inside Israel.

On Aug. 6, Rami Hwayel, a leading drama student on his way to the theatre, was arrested at a checkpoint. The soldiers returned on Aug. 22 at night, raiding the theatre, beating Mohammed Naghaghiye, the security guard, ransacking his home and then arresting him.

No charges or reasons were given for these arrests. The Freedom Theatre called for assistance from supporters worldwide. Hundreds of people responded. They signed the protest statement and called Israeli representatives in the West Bank and Washington, D.C. The detainees have since been released.

This year the theatre group performed a play called “While Waiting.” Based on Samuel Beckett’s play, “Waiting for Godot,” it symbolizes the message of waiting for help from anyone, while not knowing who is the enemy or who the friend. The drama students say Israel has used the occupation as a tool to destroy Palestinian minds and their culture, and so the psychodrama is a form of therapy that provides freedom and liberation for them.

The group waited many months for visas to come to the United States. They had to obtain permission at border crossings in Israel and Jordan.

While in New York City, the group gave a theatrical performance in the East Village, and they attended a celebratory benefit for their theatre held at the Public Theatre on Oct. 30. It featured renowned artists who consider the Freedom Theatre to be “an invaluable cultural beacon in the Middle East.”

The students also visited “Occupy Wall Street” and were pleased to see that people were “finally waking up and fighting for a pro-peace economy.” They commented, “The U.S. people should demand that their government stop using its citizens’ money to make wars.”

For more information and to donate, visit www.thefreedomtheatre.org.