The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a popular symbol of peace and hope in the occupied West Bank, has been raided, vandalised, and painted with Israeli religious and political symbols. In a film screening room inside the theatre, the Star of David has been daubed on the wall with spray paint while graffiti also depicting the Star of David and a menorah (a Hanukkah candle holder) has been scrawled on the outside wall. The Israeli military raid on the theatre took place on the night of December 12 and the early hours of December 13. Its two directors were arrested that night and the next morning. One of them, Ahmed Tobasi, was released after 14 hours, but the other, Mostafa Sheta, remains in detention. He is believed to have been taken to the Megiddo military prison in northern Israel, Tobasi said. Inside the cinema screening room at the Freedom Theatre, a Star of David has been spray-painted onto the screen and wall…
This is not the first time the community landmark has come under attack. The theatre has stood as a symbol of hope for residents of Jenin ever since it was first founded as the Stone Theatre in 1987 after the first Intifada by Arna Mer-Khamis, an Israeli peace activist who died in 1995.
Mer-Khamis was a lifelong supporter of the rights of Palestinians, especially children. With her theatre, she hoped to offer children a space for healing and to empower women through the theatre and arts. The first building housing the theatre was destroyed in 2002 by Israeli forces during the second Intifada. In 2006, Juliano Mer-Khamis, Arna’s son by her Palestinian Christian husband, Saliba Khamis, reopened the theatre on a new site in Jenin, and it doubled as a community center. Not everyone was a fan, however…
In 2009, an unidentified person threw two Molotov cocktails at the theatre while it was empty. Juliano was shot dead by a masked attacker in Jenin in 2011 at the age of 52. His killing was never solved. One of the ransacked offices of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin…
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7, tensions have mounted in the West Bank with regular and often brutal raids carried out by Israeli forces and strict curfews placed on Palestinian residents. Armed settlers and soldiers have blocked roads with trenches and frequently fired shots at anyone stepping outside their homes. About 58 Palestinians, including children, have been killed during 15 military incursions on the camp and the city. ‘No questions – they just took me’…
During all this, the Freedom Theatre kept going – until Tuesday night last week. It particularly offered a space for children to heal from trauma through activities led by the theatre’s workers. The theatre raid was part of a military operation in Jenin by Israeli forces that began on December 12 and lasted for three days. During that time, 500 Palestinians were arrested and 100 continue to be detained, said Tobasi, who himself was held in poor conditions…
“How can we continue existing this way?” Tobasi, 39, asked. It was not the first time he had been detained. He spent four years in Israeli prisons after he was captured during a 2002 siege of Jenin. Born and raised in the Jenin refugee camp, Tobasi has been coming to the theatre since he was a child. He was part of the first group of children who participated in the Stone Theatre’s activities. Last Wednesday about 11 am, however, Israeli forces broke down the front door of his home in Jenin and arrested him along with his brother…