The entrance of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, in a 2022 photograph.
Nasser Nasser/AP Photo
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Nasser Nasser/AP Photo
The entrance of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, in a 2022 photograph.
Nasser Nasser/AP Photo
The Freedom Theatre has endured extraordinary stress and privations since it was first based in 1987 by an Israeli and Palestinian couple. Located in a refugee camp on the West Bank, it has gained international renown for original plays and inventive workshops for Palestinian kids and households.
But in 2011, its creative director was shot by masked assailants. Juliano Mer-Khamis, an Israeli movie director, was the grownup son of the theaters’ founders. Last yr, the chair of its board, Bilal al-Saadi, was arrested by the Israeli military. He was detained for six months in what PEN America described as “a serious human rights violation.”
Last summer season, the theater was shelled by the Israeli army as half of a days-long marketing campaign in the realm, with extensive damages reported by the non-partisan Middle East Institute and documented by the theater. On Wednesday December 13, in the midst of one of the largest raids on Jenin in many years, the Israeli military ransacked and vandalized the theater, in response to its workers, and arrested creative director Ahmed Tobasi and two of its members. Israel says it was conducting an operation trying to find militants, who’ve been increasing their actions in Jenin for over a yr.
Tobasi was detained for 24 hours. NPR was unable to find him for an interview, however in an December 15 appearance on the left-wing program Democracy Now, Tobasi mentioned Israeli troopers broke all of the computer systems in the theater, blindfolded him and threw him in the mud by a jeep. He mentioned he was afraid they have been going to run him over.
“Everything is destroyed,” Tobasi mentioned in the video interview, which included pictures of the theater’s raided places of work. “This is a theater. It’s not a military base. It’s not a terrorist house. There are no guns. There are books, pictures, cameras, music, instruments. All of it been destroyed.”
In a statement, the workers of the Freedom Theatre mentioned the Israeli military fired weapons in the within of the theater, scrawled slogans in Hebrew on its partitions and later arrested Mustafa Sheta, the theater’s normal supervisor, and Jamal Abu Joas, a latest graduate of the Freedom Theatre Performing Arts School. Abu Jonas, the assertion says, was additionally severely crushed.
Both males at the moment are in an Israeli jail, in accordance to a website that supports Palestinian artists.
Detained theater artist Mustafa Sheta in Jenin’s Freedom Theatre in 2022.
JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP through Getty Images
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JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP through Getty Images
Detained theater artist Mustafa Sheta in Jenin’s Freedom Theatre in 2022.
JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP through Getty Images
An Israeli army spokesperson mentioned in an announcement, “The IDF conducted a counterterrorism activity in the Jenin camp, during which the forces located many weapons, ammunition and explosive devices in the territory of the camp. During the activity, hundreds of suspects were detained, and after initial questioning, those not involved with terrorism were released, while the rest were handed over for further questioning. At this time, we are not aware of IDF fire within the Jenin theatre. The activity is under ongoing review by commanders.”
More than 1,000 British playwrights, actors and administrators have signed an open letter in solidarity with the Freedom Theatre and calling for the discharge of the detained theater artists. Signatories embrace main feminist playwright Caryl Churchill and five-time Olivier profitable director Dominic Cooke. Artists in France, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Germany and Belgium have additionally rallied in support.
On Tuesday night time, a New York City protest in support of the Freedom Theatre artists included Osh Ashruf, founder of Broadway for All and Patricia McGregor, the creative director of the New York Theatre Workshop, who evoked Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson when she addressed the rally.
“He asked one question. What are your hands, heads and hearts doing with your time on Earth to make it a better place?” McGregor requested. “Our brothers and sisters at the Freedom Theater in Jenin have been answering that question through art for decades…and we will continue to watch and demand until they are released. “