Ahmed Tobasi is Palestinian and lives in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Interested since childhood in art and culture, specifically theater, he currently works as an artistic director of the Freedom Theater. In 2002, when he was 17 years old, Tobasi went to prison and there he also promoted some theater projects, “that’s when I discovered the power of culture,” he explains. When he was released from prison, he joined the Freedom Theater and in 2008 he went to study playwriting in Norway, where he lived for three years. At first, for a few years, at the Freedom Theater, Ahmed Tobasi was in charge of coordinating children’s and youth programs; but since 2020 he has worked as its artistic director.
Freedom Theater, an open door to dream
Although the Freedom Theater was founded in 2006, to know its origins, we must go back to 1953, when the Palestinian activist Arna Mer Khamis began to energize the community of the Jenin refugee camp, where the initiative is located. A similar initiative called Stone Theater was launched in 2002, but the facilities were destroyed after an Israeli attack. Years later, in 2006, Arna Mer Khamis’s son, Juliano Mer Khamis, founded the Freedom Theater. Juliano was murdered by the Israeli army at the doors of the theater in April 2011.
The objective of the Freedom Theater is to fight through cultural resistance and promote theater as a tool to deconstruct the oppressive reality that is experienced every day in the Jenin refugee camp. «The propaganda of the West and Israel has dehumanized the Palestinians. Israelis have stolen our art, our theater, our food, our kufiya, our traditions, our maps and our identity. And they want to delete it. They have used every means they had to change our identity and our history. And we have the right to fight back, to resist in any way possible. At the Freedom Theater we believe that the third intifada will be cultural and artistic. We want to resist through art and culture. Because there is no single way to resist: students resist while studying at school; the teacher resists while teaching the students. At the Freedom Theater we believe that cultural resistance is our only way to resist this occupation,” explains Tobasi.
Working from cultural resistance and theater, however, does not mean adopting a romantic stance on what is happening in the Palestinian territories: «The occupation destroys all dreams and makes reality in the camps miserable. There are hardly any play areas for boys and girls; That’s why they can’t have a normal life. The only thing we can do is continue to promote theater so that they can have a space in which they feel safe and in which they can dream and seek a different reality; a place where they can momentarily forget their reality. At the Freedom Theater we do everything possible so that they can express themselves, so that they can talk about their feelings, their fears and their dreams. That is the only way we can help them: through theater workshops, summer camp, drama therapy, etc.,” concludes the defender.
The last attack on the Freedom Theater occurred on December 12, two months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. That day, Israeli army forces entered the center’s facilities and destroyed everything. That was not their only target: Ahmed Tobasi’s house and other parts of the Jenin refugee camp were vandalized during the three-day invasion that Israeli forces carried out. It is the worst attack to occur in the territory since 2002. That day, Ahmed Tobasi was attacked, beaten and detained for 24 hours. His house was left in ruins. His colleague Mustafa Sheta, producer of the Freedom Theater, was also arrested and remains in prison. His trial was carried out by a military court behind closed doors, without any guarantees
To date, the Freedom Theater has produced more than 25 plays and has trained actors and actresses, directors, photographers and other professionals linked to the theatrical world. This is one of the most important cultural initiatives in Palestine. His productions have been seen in different communities in occupied Palestine and also abroad.
Violation of human rights in the West Bank
Although since October 7, 2023, the media focus has been and is on the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank there are also numerous human rights violations that have been carried out by the Israeli army. «Very serious things are happening here too and people’s lives here [in the West Bank] are difficult, both in the Jenin refugee camp and in other cities. Every night the bulldozers come and destroy the streets, destroy the water pipes and the cars. Everything is full of dust. They have destroyed most of the monuments,” explains Ahmed Tobasi.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has restricted the movement of the Palestinian population in the West Bank (which has forced the closure of schools and other basic infrastructure), carried out numerous attacks in which Palestinian civilians have been killed, facilities, violence has intensified in all its forms with the excuse of the war in Gaza, illegal settlements by Israeli settlers have multiplied and thousands of arbitrary arrests have occurred.
On the other hand, the situation in the Gaza Strip since October 7 is well known: indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli army on the Gazan population, destruction of hospitals, arbitrary murders, collective punishments and denial of the entry of humanitarian aid, among others. At the time of writing, it is estimated that almost 38,000 people have died, of which 14,000 are children, according to data managed by UNICEF. 9 out of 10 Gazans have been internally displaced by the attacks, while the border with Egypt remains closed. However, a recent report by The Lancet estimates that the death toll could be as high as 186,000: “Of the 37,396 reported deaths, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2,375,259, this would translate to 7.9% of the total population of the Gaza Strip.
Regarding the war in Gaza, there have been mobilizations around the world, but apart from in universities, there has not been a mass mobilization.
For us this is a great disappointment and we are in a state of shock, but at the same time I think it is good that we Palestinians have finally understood that all the promises [of Western countries] are nothing more than lies. Western and European morality is false. The masks have fallen, humanity is a big lie, as it is democracy. It is clear that the colonizing mentality has not disappeared. UNESCO, Amnesty [International], United Nations, the International Criminal Court… They do nothing, everything is in the hands of the United States and the Zionist movement. They decide who is a criminal and who is not; who is the good and who is the bad. Is what is happening in Palestine against the Palestinians debatable? They die young, children; there are displacements and destruction. Thousands of people dead. Who can stop Israel? Who can stop the United States? Who can stop the West? Nobody. And that is the great crisis that this humanity is experiencing; but it is reality and nothing can be done. There is a double standard and there are those who decide when some values are valid and when they are not. As Palestinians, we do not have anyone’s support.
But there are people who take to the streets to protest.
But it is not enough to change reality. Not even the Arab people are fighting for Palestine! And it is no longer about Palestine, but about humanity. We live [immersed] in a circle of violence and colonization that will spill over into other countries. There are many war places and conflict zones around the world, but we Palestinians suffer from the Israeli occupation, which is the fault of the West. We appear on television because the Israeli army kills us, but there is also war in Afghanistan, in Yemen, in Sudan, in Africa, in South America, in Asia. Many places and communities are at war and suffering genocide. And nobody cares. As a Palestinian I know that the State of Israel will not stop until it finishes us. It’s their plan, so the only option we have left is to stay alive and stay on our land. And if we die, do it on our land. We don’t trust the Americans, nor the Europeans, nor the Israelis.
What is daily life like in the Jenin refugee camp? What is it like for the boys and girls?
Living in Jenin is living in the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen. Children today are growing up with the invasion: you get the bombs and the shots. They will have traumas. All Palestinians have them. I am afraid to know what the future will be like for these Palestinian children. On the other hand, we must not forget that children are usually the targets of Israeli snipers. In Jenin we are very tired and we will have a lot of therapy work with these children. And I’m not talking about the invasion anymore: they are psychologically torturing us. I grew up during the first intifada, seeing the [Israeli] army entering my house every now and then. My father was in jail. I saw how the army arrested our neighbors, they killed some of my cousins. The second intifada caught me as a teenager; without understanding what was happening. I stood up to defend my people and my home and they imprisoned me for four years. And that’s how you live. The Israelis decide everything; They have their own law regarding us. I had to go to study in Norway. You grow up with curfew, seeing the fear in your family when the army enters your house at night. With fear of an invasion, of being arrested. The Israelis control and decide your life.
In April 2011, Juliano Mer Khamis, co-founder of the Freedom Theater, was murdered. They killed him at the doors of the theater for his work leading the project and his political ideas.
They [the Government of Israel] want all of this to go away. We are the only theater in Jenin and in the region, the only infrastructure giving light and color to this place, because everything is closed. For me there is no choice and I know that we have to continue and keep the theater open, knowing that every day I cross the street I put my life at risk. Why was Juliano killed? Because he spoke to the community about political issues, about the occupation and about corruption. They thought that by killing Juliano the Theater would disappear; but it was not like that, because Theater is an idea and a right. And even if they kill me, the Theater will continue. We have rights and neither a tank nor a bulldozer will stop us: we will continue dreaming and working to achieve our freedom.
Last December, after Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, the Theater was attacked. You were beaten and detained for 24 hours and Mustafa Sheta, the theater producer, remains in prison. You don’t know anything about him. In fact, his trial was carried out by a military court behind closed doors, without guarantees. How is it possible to live constantly in danger?
We cannot continue with our work. Sometimes we even rehearse when an attack is occurring, but of course there is always fear. We have no evacuation plans. Since the attack, we have held theater workshops outside the camp, because we are afraid of Israeli reprisals, which could surprise us at any moment. The problem in Jenin is that you never know what is going to happen. We cannot relax, we cannot plan, neither for now nor for tomorrow. We can’t even fix the Theater because every time we fix it, they attack us again and destroy it. Working like this is difficult; and also live. On the other hand, we have tried to continue with the workshops and the summer camp for boys and girls. The theater school also continues to operate; although with online activities. And we have another problem: right now we should be at a youth theater festival in Germany, but they have denied us visas. They don’t give them to us anymore. It’s crazy. Israelis can travel wherever they want without even having a visa. These are things I don’t understand. Then there is the issue of censorship of Palestinian artists, which has become tougher. A genocide against Palestinian culture is taking place.
