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27 mrt 2012
One year after Juliano's death, five graduates from Freedom Theatre create a new musical album
In a rather plush recording studio in Al-Masion Ramallah, The Juliano Student Group, five talented graduates from The Freedom Theatre, gathered to record an album.
The album is in preparation for an event in commemoration of Juliano Mer Khamis', the late Director of the Freedom Theatre who was murdered one year ago. I spoke to one of these performers Momeen swaTaT about the role of the group in the wake of the Freedom Theatre's Director
Nelly: Can you tell me what you're recording today?
Momeen: We are recording for the memorial that will take place on 4th April. We are recording two things one with DAM and a new album with a special song for Juliano. We are currently creating a 20 minute musical for Juliano that will a mixture of Animal Farm, Alice in Wonderland and Fragment of Palestine.
They will be three plays in one that will be performed in Jaffa Theatre and at the same time a performance will take place in Haifa with Jenny, Juliano's wife and the actress Salwa Nakara.
Nelly: What other activities will follow for the memorial of Juliano?
Momeen: There will be a demonstration outside Al-Muqata and a meeting with Abu Mazim. It is important to note that they still haven't found the killer The event will be a special day.
After one year no responsibility has been taken from Palestine or Israel. Somebody died during the day at 3 o'clock, there is something wrong. A person has been killed and any one of us can be killed at any time.
This is affecting our identity and our task is to remove this by creating music and theatre for many people to ask questions. We are continuing in the same way as Juliano, to ask and work for the freedom of Palestinian women and the Palestinian young generation from communities under the Israeli occupation.
The big question is 'who killed Juliano?' We are Palestinian artists who are sending a message to the outside. Art is telling the reality. Art away from reality is not art anymore. We create art everywhere and with it bring questions.
This is the first time since the first intifada that they have killed an artist. Juliano never held a grudge. He was not Hamas and not an Israeli soldier. He was an artist with a message.
I spoke to Marwan Asad, a producer and DJ who is supporting the group in producing their first album.
Nelly: Can you tell me about the studio and what you're doing here today?
Marwan: This is my 4th studio. I have a passion for music production and films so I studied music production and film making in Cairo University and in 2004 I set up my first production company in Ramallah. I produce both underground and commercial music with Palestinian artists and have also produced music in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. I produced the first electronic music album as there is no electronic music in Palestine or the Middle East.
Nelly: How is the music scene changing in Palestine?
Marwan: There is a new generation of artists in Palestine making a difference in music, modern music and people now listen, see art and appreciate it. Palestinian modern art sends the world a message.
Nelly: How are you supporting this group of artists today?
Marwan: I have a personal respect with the theatre, and artists who are sending messages that are buried within the Palestinian youth. Five artists from the theatre chose against it being buried. The Palestinian youth do what normal people are afraid to say because of culture of fear built up in the society. It's about art allowing us to let out what's inside. I am not doing this for Juliano, but for five Palestinian artists for their future.
The performance will take place on Wednesday 4th April, 8pm Jaffa Theatre, Mifratz Shlomo St. 10, Yafa. The event will be in commemoration of the one year anniversary of Juliano Mer Khamis' death.
It will be hosted by Salwa Nakara and will feature the work of graduates from the Freedom Theatre Batoul Taleb, Mariam Abu Khaled, Rami Hwayel, Mo'min Switat, and Rabee Turkman alongside short films by Mustafa Staiti, Firas Khoury and more, and performances by Adi Khalifa, DAM, and Itamar Ziegler
Friends will also be welcome to share memories of Juliano.
Tickets are by "pay what you can" donation with proceeds going to fund a grant for the graduate students of Juliano, to continue the spirit of the Freedom Theatre.
To reserve tickets or for more information please contact: Natalie Hassian: 03-5187539
One year after the murder of our beloved cultural freedom fighter, we will gather to honor the memory of the artist
A year after Juliano Mer-Khamis' murder, it's time to board the freedom bus
One year after Juliano's death, five graduates from Freedom Theatre create a new musical album
In a rather plush recording studio in Al-Masion Ramallah, The Juliano Student Group, five talented graduates from The Freedom Theatre, gathered to record an album.
The album is in preparation for an event in commemoration of Juliano Mer Khamis', the late Director of the Freedom Theatre who was murdered one year ago. I spoke to one of these performers Momeen swaTaT about the role of the group in the wake of the Freedom Theatre's Director
Nelly: Can you tell me what you're recording today?
Momeen: We are recording for the memorial that will take place on 4th April. We are recording two things one with DAM and a new album with a special song for Juliano. We are currently creating a 20 minute musical for Juliano that will a mixture of Animal Farm, Alice in Wonderland and Fragment of Palestine.
They will be three plays in one that will be performed in Jaffa Theatre and at the same time a performance will take place in Haifa with Jenny, Juliano's wife and the actress Salwa Nakara.
Nelly: What other activities will follow for the memorial of Juliano?
Momeen: There will be a demonstration outside Al-Muqata and a meeting with Abu Mazim. It is important to note that they still haven't found the killer The event will be a special day.
After one year no responsibility has been taken from Palestine or Israel. Somebody died during the day at 3 o'clock, there is something wrong. A person has been killed and any one of us can be killed at any time.
This is affecting our identity and our task is to remove this by creating music and theatre for many people to ask questions. We are continuing in the same way as Juliano, to ask and work for the freedom of Palestinian women and the Palestinian young generation from communities under the Israeli occupation.
The big question is 'who killed Juliano?' We are Palestinian artists who are sending a message to the outside. Art is telling the reality. Art away from reality is not art anymore. We create art everywhere and with it bring questions.
This is the first time since the first intifada that they have killed an artist. Juliano never held a grudge. He was not Hamas and not an Israeli soldier. He was an artist with a message.
I spoke to Marwan Asad, a producer and DJ who is supporting the group in producing their first album.
Nelly: Can you tell me about the studio and what you're doing here today?
Marwan: This is my 4th studio. I have a passion for music production and films so I studied music production and film making in Cairo University and in 2004 I set up my first production company in Ramallah. I produce both underground and commercial music with Palestinian artists and have also produced music in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. I produced the first electronic music album as there is no electronic music in Palestine or the Middle East.
Nelly: How is the music scene changing in Palestine?
Marwan: There is a new generation of artists in Palestine making a difference in music, modern music and people now listen, see art and appreciate it. Palestinian modern art sends the world a message.
Nelly: How are you supporting this group of artists today?
Marwan: I have a personal respect with the theatre, and artists who are sending messages that are buried within the Palestinian youth. Five artists from the theatre chose against it being buried. The Palestinian youth do what normal people are afraid to say because of culture of fear built up in the society. It's about art allowing us to let out what's inside. I am not doing this for Juliano, but for five Palestinian artists for their future.
The performance will take place on Wednesday 4th April, 8pm Jaffa Theatre, Mifratz Shlomo St. 10, Yafa. The event will be in commemoration of the one year anniversary of Juliano Mer Khamis' death.
It will be hosted by Salwa Nakara and will feature the work of graduates from the Freedom Theatre Batoul Taleb, Mariam Abu Khaled, Rami Hwayel, Mo'min Switat, and Rabee Turkman alongside short films by Mustafa Staiti, Firas Khoury and more, and performances by Adi Khalifa, DAM, and Itamar Ziegler
Friends will also be welcome to share memories of Juliano.
Tickets are by "pay what you can" donation with proceeds going to fund a grant for the graduate students of Juliano, to continue the spirit of the Freedom Theatre.
To reserve tickets or for more information please contact: Natalie Hassian: 03-5187539
One year after the murder of our beloved cultural freedom fighter, we will gather to honor the memory of the artist
A year after Juliano Mer-Khamis' murder, it's time to board the freedom bus
- 5 apr 2011
Juliano Mer-Khamis ...RIP
(1:04) Juliano Mer-Khamis ...RIP
Juliano's Last message
Thousands expected for funeral of slain director
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Jenin Freedom Theater Director Juliano Mer-Khamis will be buried on Tuesday, with thousands expected to turn out for the funeral processions, set to take place in Jenin, Haifa and Ramallah.
Hours after the artist was gunned down in his car outside of the theater in the Jenin refugee camp, some 50 Palestinian artists and actors gathered in Ramallah's central square to protest against the killing. They held up signs saying Mer-Khamis's murder was "a loss for Palestine."
Theater students released a statement on Tuesday morning, saying "Juliano, your mother's children have passed away, your mother Arna has passed away and so did you - but your children are going to stay, following your path on the way to the freedom battle, and we will go on with your revolution's promise, the Jasmine revolution.
"The Revolutionary message will not pass away. It will come storming the yellow sands and the mountains covered by almond trees, blowing the jasmine revolution out of the freedom fighter's hands, from here, from the Freedom Theater's stage, where men were and are made to be free and engaged in the cultural revolutionary battle for Freedom.
"In thousands of silences only one violin is playing, and in thousands of silences only one voice is raising up, it's the freedom fighters's voices, to whom you taught how to carry the cultural gun on their shoulders."
The statement was signed, "Juliano's Children."
Mer-Khamis was the son of Arna Mer, an Israeli Jewish activist who founded the first theater in the camp, the Stones Theater, which opened during the First Intifadah in the late 1980s, and closed during the Second Intifadah. In 2006, Mer-Khamis, whose father was a Palestinian from Nazareth, opened the Freedom Theater after filming the documentary, Arna's Children, which cataloged his mother's struggle to open and maintain the project.
Condemnations continue, killing called 'cowardly'
"Through their cowardly act they have robbed us of a leading light in Palestinian theatre, an advocate of peace, and a true friend to all people of good will," a spokesman from the British Foreign and Commonwealth office said.
"Juliano was a good friend of the Consulate and an inspiration for people well beyond the Palestinian territories. He was a brave man who stood for tolerance and free expression. Those responsible for his death could not be more different than him. Through their cowardly act they have robbed us of a leading light in Palestinian theatre, an advocate of peace, and a true friend to all people of good will. We sincerely hope that those responsible will be caught and held accountable for this heinous act."
A group of popular committees organizing weekly protests against Israel's separation wall, issued a statement "expressing our deep sadness" over the death, calling the act "part of the escalation exercised by the Israeli occupation," blaming the tense political situation, "it is what permits such horrific acts."
The statement said the groups "hold the Israeli occupation responsible" for the death. It continued, saying "We are not against Jews in the world. We are against the occupation and our goal to live in freedom and dignity like the rest of the world."
The groups continued, saying that they believed the "killing of Juliano only serves Israeli interests."
Palestinian investigators were instructed by West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to work around the clock to locate the gunmen. Initial reports were unclear as to whether one or two armed individuals carried out the attack.
Freedom Theater officials said Mer-Khamis was in his car with his son and the child's nanny when he was stopped, and shot through the windshield.
"We are shocked and saddened by Juliano Mer-Khamis' murder, not only was he a unique and talented actor and director, he was also a symbol of coexistence and peace," spokesman for UN Mideast peace envoy Robert Serry said.
Richard Miron continued, saying "Our thoughts are with his family and all those he touched through his life," the spokesman said, adding that Serry had met with Mer-Khamis during one of his visits to Jenin and the theater.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375691
UN's Mideast spokesman condemns Mer-Khamis death
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- "We are shocked and saddened by Juliano Mer-Khamis' murder, not only was he a unique and talented actor and director, he was also a symbol of coexistence and peace," spokesman for UN Mideast peace envoy Robert Serry said.
Richard Miron continued, saying "Our thoughts are with his family and all those he touched through his life," the spokesman said, adding that Serry had met with Mer-Khamis during one of his visits to Jenin and the theater.
The actor and director was shot dead in his car in front of the theater on Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375713
Leading Palestinian Peace Activist & Theater Director, Juliano Mer-Khamis, Killed in Jenin
(8:59) Leading Palestinian Peace Activist & Theater Director, Juliano Mer-Khamis, Killed in Jenin
Palestinians, artists and peace activists worldwide are mourning the loss of a leading figure in Palestinian creative non-violence resistance. Juliano Mer Khamis, the founder of a theater for Palestinian children, was killed Monday by masked assailants in the West Bank town of Jenin.
He had received a number of death threats from extremist Palestinians for his work with the Jenin Freedom Theatre. The theatre has helped Palestinian youths deal with the hardships of life under Israeli occupation by expressing themselves through the arts film, photography, art and theater.
Democracy Now! interviews Nabeel Raee, director of the acting school at the Jenin Freedom Theatre, where he worked closely with Mer-Khamis for many years, and by Constancia "Dinky" Romilly, founder and president of the board of the New York City-based Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, who also worked closely with the program in Jenin.
The Freedom Theatre, Jenin, West Bank, Palestine
(5:54) The Freedom Theatre, Jenin, West Bank, Palestine
An organization started by Juliano Mer Khamis that I volunteered at in the summer of '08 in the Jenin Refugee Camp in Jenin, the heartland of the West Bank in Palestine.
During the summer Lisa Fender and I taught storytelling, cinema photography, video editing to the theatre's instructors.
As a final project we all worked on this video telling people what The Freedom Theatre is and what it does.
Lisa even managed to get 'detained' in a detention centre by the Israeli military while doing some of the filming for this piece.
Produced, Directed, Shot and Cut by Ben Aylsworth, Lisa Fender, Tareq, Mustafa, Ahmed and Muhammed.
Director shot dead outside Jenin theater
JENIN (Ma'an) -- Unknown assailants shot dead the General-Director of the Freedom Theater in Jenin outside the venue on Monday. He had reestablished the theater, founded by his mother, after it fell into disuse during the Second Intifadah.
Juliano Mer-Khamis, 52, was shot five times while leaving the theater, and died at Jenin Hospital, local security sources told a Ma'an correspondent. They said his body was handed to Israeli authorities at the Jalama crossing north of Jenin.
Unknown gunmen inside the city's refugee camp opened fire on his car, Jenin police chief Mohammed Tayim told AFP.
Witnesses in the camp told AFP they saw two masked gunmen open fire on his car before speeding away. However, Jenin governor Qadura Musa told AFP initial reports indicated a lone gunman had carried out the attack.
"He was shot by a masked gunman who fired five bullets into the window of his car," he said. A woman from Bethlehem who was in the car with him was wounded in the hand, he said.
The nanny of Mer-Khamis's son was injured in the attack, police told Ma'an.
Musa said said he was not aware of any threats against Mer-Khamis.
"We have not arrested anyone yet, but we have formed a crisis group from all the Palestinian security forces to investigate this crime and we hope to have some results within the coming hours."
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad strongly condemned the murder. "Such criminal acts will not be tolerated under any circumstances."
He added: "It constitutes a severe violation of our principles and values and goes against our peoples morals and beliefs in co-existence."
The premier ordered security services to work round the clock to bring the assailants to justice.
Actor and activist
Mer-Khamis was a well-known film and theater actor and activist. His mother, Arna Mer, was a Jewish Israeli who campaigned for Palestinian rights and established a theater in Jenin refugee camp in the 1980s. His father was a Palestinian Christian, Saliba Khamis. Mer-Khamis, an Israeli citizen, was born in Nazareth.
Mer-Khamis refused to describe himself as an Arab Israeli, telling Israel's army radio in 2009: "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish."
Following a well-received documentary on his mother's activities in the camp, which he directed, the actor established the Jenin Freedom Theater in 2006 with former military leader of the Jenin Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Zakaria Zubeidi. Mer-Khamis had lived in the city's camp for seven years.
The theater is a cultural center in the refugee camp which is home to some 16,000 Palestinian refugees, more than half of them minors.
One of Jenin's 'sons'
Governor Qadura Musa condemned the killing of the actor, who he said was "one of the camp's sons."
Mer-Khamis lived in the refugee camp "through sweet and bitter days" and developed the theater to reject oppression, injustice and occupation, the governor said.
He always worked to help Palestinians to achieve their rights, Musa said, adding that all those who knew him in Jenin felt great pain for his loss.
The governor said the Palestinian judiciary would find those responsible and punish them in court.
Theater a refuge from violence
Originally known as as The Stone Theater, Mer-Khamis' mother established the space in 1987 for the children of Jenin to escape the violence of the first intifada which had begun several months earlier.
Fifteen years later, the theater was destroyed during the second intifada when Israeli troops launched a massive operation to root out gunmen from the refugee camp -- then a major militant stronghold.
It was rebuilt and reopened in 2006 by her actor son with the help of Zakaria Zubeidi, who himself was part of the theater project.
Mer-Khamis's 2004 documentary film "Arna's Children" about the theater won first prize at the Canadian International Documentary Festival the same year.
But the theater was not without its critics. In 2009, two arson attacks damaged the Freedom Theater, and a number of threats were reportedly made against the initiative. In one attack, two molotov cocktails were hurled at the building, which was empty at the time, setting the door on fire.
Since then, there have been no reports of attacks or threats against the theater or those running it, locals and officials told AFP.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375522 16 apr 2011, 10:57 , Respect -
Maria 6 APR 2011
Juliano Mer Khamis
(1:01) Juliano Mer Khamis
Jenin militant charged over theater director murder
JENIN (AFP) -- Police in Jenin have charged a former Al-Aqsa Brigades militant with the murder of an Israeli-Palestinian theatre director, security sources said Wednesday.
Palestinian police arrested Mujahed Qaniri on Monday, just hours after a masked gunman shot dead Juliano Mer-Khamis, director of The Freedom Theatre in the refugee camp in this northern West Bank city.
Mer-Khamis, a well-known actor and director who was born of Jewish and Palestinian parents, was gunned down as he was driving home, with his infant son sat on his knee and the baby-sitter also in the car.
Police sources said Qaniri, a camp resident who is in his 30s, had been charged with the murder after being identified in three separate line-ups by the baby-sitter, who was sitting in the car when he opened fire.
Friends and associates of Mer-Khamis said the woman, known only as Raida, had seen the killer's face before he opened fire, after which he donned a mask and fled.
The source said Qaniri once belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, and had spent at least five years in an Israeli jail.
Some sources said he had since joined Hamas, while others described him as "independent" who had spent five years in a Palestinian jail for supplying weapons to militants from the Islamist group.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri disavowed any connection with Qaniri.
"Mujahed Qaniri belongs to Fatah and has no relationship with Hamas," he said in a statement, adding that the murder was a purely criminal affair.
Mer-Khamis was buried on Wednesday at a kibbutz between the northern Israeli port city of Haifa and the Arab Israeli city of Nazareth where he grew up.
The funeral procession passed by the Jalameh crossing between Israel and the northern West Bank so that residents of the camp could pay their last respects.
http://fwd4.me/z74
Murdered theater director laid to rest
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian director of a West Bank theater who was murdered on Tuesday was buried Wednesday at the kibbutz Ramot Manashe cemetery.
Juliano Mer-Khamis was to be buried next to his mother Arna, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. Palestinian youths who study at the Freedom Theater were given permission to join Israeli and Arab actors at the service.
The murder of the 52-year-old director sparked grief and outrage among both Israelis and Palestinians, and no small measure of shock in the Jenin refugee camp, where he had lived for the last seven years.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=376244
Abu Zuhri: Suspect in murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis affiliated with Fatah
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, affirmed that the suspect in murdering Juliano Mer-Khamis was affiliated with Fatah and had nothing to do with Hamas as claimed by West Bank security apparatuses.
Security apparatuses loyal to de facto Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas apprehended Mujahid Qaneiri on suspicion of killing Mer-Khamis, a director, actor, and the manager of the Huriyya (freedom) theater in Jenin, a few days ago.
Well informed sources told the PIC that Qaneiri is known for his affiliation with Fatah faction and its armed wing the Aqsa Brigades. The West Bank security is trying to spread rumors that Qaneiri was affiliated with Hamas to put the blame on the movement for the murder.
http://fwd4.me/z60 24 apr 2011, 23:39 , Respect -
Maria 19 apr 2011
Killer Of Israeli-Palestinian Director Still At Large
A Palestinian security official stated Tuesday that the murderer of Israeli-Palestinian director, Juliano Mer-Khamis, is still at large as DNA tests exonerated a suspect who was detained by the security forces following the murder.
Adnan Dameery, spokesperson of the Palestinian Security Forces, stated that the investigation is still ongoing.
Dameery made his statements during a press conference that was organized by the Palestinian Government and the Center for Strategic Studies and Research.
The Israeli-Palestinian director was shot dead by a gunman, on April 4th, as he was leaving the Freedom Theater that he ran in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern part of the West Bank.
Mer-Khamis is the son of a Palestinian father from Nazareth and a Jewish Israeli mother.
Dameery said that President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly reiterated that human dignity is more important than the law as laws were created to protect the
citizens, and to ensure their dignity and security.
The official thanked the media for their role and their transparency, especially in monitoring the conducts of the police and the security forces.
http://fwd4.me/zvr
Abbas: Suspect questioned in Mer-Khamis murder
AMMAN, Jordan (Ma'an) -- Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder of Israeli-Palestinian theater director Juliano Mer-Khamis in Jenin two weeks ago, President Mahmoud Abbas told Al-Arabiya satellite channel Monday night.
Abbas gave no details as to the identity of the suspect, who he said was being interrogated. The president did not elaborate on the nature of the questioning, but said police continued to work to find those responsible for the death.
A former militant was taken in for questioning shortly after the fatal shooting of Mer-Khamis in Jenin refugee camp on April 4, but he was released due to lack of evidence.
Mer-Khamis' Jewish-Israeli mother founded a theater in Jenin during the First Intifada, and he continued the legacy of the project with the Freedom Theater. His father was a Palestinian from Nazareth,
The actor and director was gunned down after allegedly being told to stay away from the refugee camp the week earlier. The incident was condemned by Palestinian officials and the local community.
The theater had come under attack in the past. Several fire-bombing attempts had caused some damage to the building.
http://fwd4.me/zt1 24 apr 2011, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 24 apr 2011
PA awards medal to 'Palestinian martyrs'
Palestinian President says slain activists Juliano Mer-Khamis, Vittorio Arrigoni to receive 'Jerusalem medal' for dedicating life to Palestinian people. 'Murder only served interest of enemies,' says Fatah Central Committee Chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul.
The Palestinian Authority will award the "medal of Jerusalem" to Vittorio Arrigoni, the Pro-Palestinian Italian activists killed by Salafi extremist in the Gaza Strip and Juliano Mer-Khamis, the Israeli-Arab theater director murdered in Jenin, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Sunday.
Speaking at a Ramallah ceremony in memory of Arrigoni, Abbas said "the Italian activist came to Palestine to show solidarity with our people, and dedicated his life to our people while living in tough conditions in Gaza.
"He was murdered by a malicious hand that does not represent the tradition and values of the Palestinian people. This man, who came to us full of liveliness, returned to his family dead," he added.
Abbas also condemned the murder of Mer-Khamis, who was shot to death by masked assailants at the beginning of April.
"He dedicated his life to Palestinian culture and was murdered in cold blood," Abbas said, calling the two "martyrs of the Palestinian people."
The ceremony was attended by senior official in the Palestinian government, representatives of the Italian consulate in Jerusalem and members of Fatah and other Palestinian factions.
'Died for Palestine'
Fatah official Nabil Shaath said that "Vittorio Arrigoni died for Palestine, which makes him a Palestinian."
Shaath added that the medal will be given to one of Arrigoni's family members during their visit to the Palestinian Authority.
Commenting on Arrigoni's kidnapping, Fatah Central Committee Chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul said his murderers served the interest of the Palestinian people's enemies.
Also on Sunday, friends and family of Arrigoni bid their last farewells at a funeral service in his hometown in northern Italy.
Hundreds of people paid tribute to the body of Arrigoni, who was 36, and attended his funeral in the quiet town of Bulciago, some 35 km (21 miles) north of Milan where his mother is mayor.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4060275,00.html
German MP blames Israel for Mer, Arrigoni deaths
Berlin – Inge Höger, a Left Party member of the Bundestag who was aboard the Mavi Marmara when it tried to break the blockade of Gaza last May, had reportedly attributed the recent murders of pro- Palestinian Israeli filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis and Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni to Israeli occupation government.
Writing on her Left Party website, Höger asked: “The question one must pose is: Who profits from this terrible crime? First of all, now two of the activists most ‘dangerous’ for Israel, because they were the most engaged, well known and noted, are eliminated.
The murders of Vittorio and Juliano could also be a means of dealing a serious blow to the international solidarity movement – especially given the upcoming second flotilla and the fact that international activists still won’t let themselves be prevented from going to Palestine.”
She continued, “In the past there have been many documented false flag attacks (for example, the Lavon Affair [in 1954]), and in the Palestinian territories there are constantly cases of collaboration by Palestinians with Israel in the murder of Palestinians – for money, for a new ID card, for travel permits.”
Udo Steinbach, the former head of the German Orient Institute in Hamburg, is the patron of the German delegation helping to organize the second Gaza flotilla. Steinbach is a pro Palestine activist who opposes the racist policies of Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.
He compares Palestinian “resistance” against Israel to the “Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” against the Germans in 1943.
“The Israelis are massacring the Palestinians,” Steinbach has said.
Pro Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was killed by a group of fanatics, three Palastinians and one Jordanian who arrived in Gaza illegally and for unknown purposes.
Palestinian security sources reported that Abdul Rahman Al Breizat ,22, from Jordan has killed one of his colleagues and injured one another before committing a suicide. Committing a suicide by the Jordanian suspect considered by Palestinias and security services in Gaza as abnormal behavior that hides a lot of secrets believed to be burried with the murderer himself.
http://fwd4.me/00BD
29 mei 2011
Freedom Theatre without Juliano
Several weeks after the murder of actor and political activist Juliano Mer-Khamis, members of the Jenin refugee camp theatre were convinced the project will survive on the path blazed by Mer-Khamis and expand the importance of art as a weapon against occupation.
Almost two months have passed since the 4 April 2011 assassination of Juliano Mer-Khamis, director and a founder of the Freedom Theatre. Created in 2006 and located in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the theatre project will survive the death of Mer-Khamis and will follow the path he blazed. So says Eyad Hurani, a young man from Ramallah who for the past three years has lived in Jenin, studying theatre and sharing hours with Juliano.
"When he died I felt it was too soon, that it could not be. Now I know that your body is gone, but I have it clear that his ideas and his message will always be inside me," said Hurani, who has not returned to Jenin since the fateful April 4. "The refugee camp is not safe now. I am going to be an actor and want to work in Palestine and the Freedom Theatre, but for now I cannot go there, perhaps out of fear," he explains.
Stage director Adnan Naghnaghiye, who worked at the Freedom Theatre for five years with Mer-Khamis, acknowledges that the disappearance of his friend has hit the theatre very hard, but that they will try to keep the prestige gained by the Freedom Theatre. Nagtnaghiye, who has always lived in the refugee camp, notes that while the theatre’s activities were stopped after 4 April, he hopes the theatre will restart activities in the coming months.
Frowned upon by some
"No one can be liked by everyone. And this happened also to Juliano," says Adnan to explain the killing of Mer-Khamis and the opposition within the refugee camp to the Freedom Theatre itself. Mer-Khamis’ Jewish mother, the so-called “western winds” brought in by the theatre and its joint work with both girls and boys were frowned upon by some. In fact, the theater had been attacked several years ago with molotov cocktails, and its members had become accustomed to threats.
"Culture takes time and I think there are people who need more time to understand the meaning and importance of theatre," quietly notes Hurani, who remembers that for ten years there was nothing similar in the Jenin refugee camp because everything was closed since the Israelis destroyed the previous centre, initiated by Arna Mer, the mother of Julian.
Art as weapon
"We must insist with our message, we cannot stop if we want to change people's mentality," says the young actor. He believes the Freedom Theatre project is valuable to the refugee camp because, among other things, it provides children "an open, safe place, where they can express and do what they want, without limits.The theatre, like art in general, is a potent weapon to send messages and is a strong tool to fight the occupation.” “There are people, laments Nagtnaghiye Adnan , that still believe the only way to oppose the Israelis is with guns ".
Eyad Hurani explains how Juliano taught him how to use art to become a political activist. "We have to take the stage to explain and show our situation. It is an incredible tool of propaganda," he says. "The Israeli occupation does not only mean war, tanks and imprisonment. It is also mental and art helps us to free our minds. I do not think we can liberate our country if we do not free ourselves," says the actor.
Translated to English by the Alternative Information Center (AIC) http://fwd4.me/02Z7
http://fwd4.me/02Z6 29 may 2011, 12:01 , Respect -
Maria 9 juni 2011
Jenin camp residents stymie Juliano Mer murder probe
Senior Palestinian security source says Jenin residents are refusing to cooperate with investigation; Attorney for Mer's family claims four law enforcement agencies investigating the death aren't working hard enough to solve case.
Almost two months after Israeli actor and political activist Juliano Mer-KKhamis was shot dead in Jenin, there are no leads in the investigation. Of the four law enforcement agencies investigating the case - the Palestinian police, the Israel Police, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service - none seems to be working particularly hard to solve it, says Abeer Baker, the attorney for the family, who has been in touch with the district police in Ariel about the case.
Forensic tests and the autopsy were carried out in Israel, but the Palestinian security services are in charge of looking for the gun and locating eye witnesses. A Palestinian security source told Haaretz that residents of the refugee camp in Jenin where Mer-Khamis was shot refuse to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority forces investigating the murder, impeding the investigation.
A resident of the camp, who is a veteran member of one of the Palestinian Liberation Organization groups and knowledgeable on the matter, told Haaretz that the PA's fear of clashing with camp residents is preventing it from pursuing the probe as intensely as it should.
Right after Mer-Khamis' murder on April 4, the PA had reportedly arrested a number of suspects who were released shortly thereafter. Officials close to the PA in Ramallah said that the Palestinian police released a key suspect after potential eye witnesses said they had seen nothing.
The nanny for Mer-Khamis' baby, who was in his car at the time of the shooting, could not identify a suspect when questioned by the Palestinian police. The Israelis did not question her.
Sources at Freedom Theater, which Mer-Khamis established in Jenin, said the Palestinian police had not bothered to investigate who was behind the threatening flyers distributed against the theater before and after the murder.
Despite a promise made by PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting he held with a delegation of Israeli-Arab writers and artists, the Palestinian police are not guarding the theater; the actors are rehearsing for a new play outside the camp.
At the meeting, which took place about 10 days after the murder, Abbas said the PA would make every effort to solve the murder.
Right after the murder, the IDF demanded and received from the PA a summary of its findings from the crime scene, along with Mer-Khamis' car, his cell phone and his computer. The actor's friends in Haifa and Jenin said they believed clues helpful to the investigation in terms of the threats he faced could be found in his computer and phone. But Baker, the family's attorney, said the police have informed her that they have no findings to report so far.
The spokeswoman for the Samaria and Judea District police told Haaretz the autopsy report had been sent to the Justice Ministry with a recommendation that it be sent to the Palestinian Authority.
Residents of the refugee camp said the man who shot Mer-Khamis covered his face with a stocking cap only as he fled the scene and that he removed it about 150 meters away when he got into a car. The cap fell out of his pocket and is now in the possession of the Palestinian police.
The police spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether the Ariel police had obtained the cap because the case was still under investigation.
Baker said she was told that the Israel Police is not the agency responsible for the probe.
The Shin Bet confirmed to Haaretz that it and the IDF are jointly investigating the murder, although the Shin Bet would not confirm to Haaretz whether it was in charge of the probe.
Secrets are said to be hard to keep in the refugee camp, especially because it is assumed that the PA security agencies have numerous undercover agents operating in the camp.
Some people in the camp believe that the PA's inability to solve the murder, coupled with Israeli slowness in solving the murder of an Israeli citizen, show the Shin Bet and the Palestinian authorities are cooperating. But Mer-Khamis' Palestinian friends are not convinced this is true.
The dead-end probe also raises questions about the attitude of the residents of the camp to Freedom Theater, which was considered particularly daring and critical, and threats prior to the murder show that certain circles in the camp saw it as a foreign element.
A native and former resident of the camp, who is a Fatah member, told Haaretz the theater "was more important abroad than to Palestinians in the West Bank and the camp."
In contrast, Mer-Khamis' friends in Haifa say the theater was a lodestone for school children and a home for young actors, giving them joy during the hard years of the intifada.
But Mer-Khamis' friends, Baker, Palestinian police officials and camp residents all agree that it will be embarrassing if the IDF and the Shin Bet are the ones to raid the camp looking for suspects.
http://fwd4.me/03Wx
Juliano Khamis funeral
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lIJ3y-dz14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iSqdUxEK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fapb41k2OuE
Arna's Children. A film by Juliano Mer Khamis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQZiHgbBBcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lIJ3y-dz14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iSqdUxEK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fapb41k2OuE
Arna's Children. A film by Juliano Mer Khamis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQZiHgbBBcI