On Monday afternoon, April 4, 2011, Juliano Mer Khamis, our friend, colleague and project partner was shot dead in the middle of the street in Jenin Refugee Camp. Juliano Mer Khamis, actor and film maker, was the director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin – a centre of artistic and political freedom that rejects both the Israeli occupation and the religiously veiled patriarchal local power structures. Juliano was a fearless champion of a just peace between Israel and Palestine. He was adamantly critical of the Israeli policy of war and occupation. Despite his deep strong solidarity with the deprived Palestinian people he criticised the political absurdity and the backward-looking character of an alledged Palestinian self-assertion. He was a merciless critic of himself and of all political forces that strive for permanent separation and irreconcilability between Israelis and Palestinians. As a son of two Israeli communists – a Jewish mother and a Palestinian father – he refused with all his strength and personal presence all ethnic, political, and religious attributions that leave no room for individuals to make their own decisions or to adopt a political attitude that recognises all kinds of injustice regardless of where they occur.
In this spirit he ran the drama school and the theatre in Jenin defending with greatest vehemence the freedom of art, for Juliano a challenge that was more political than artistic. Again and again he received threats of murder. The theatre was attacked several times. In an interview with the German daily „TAZ“ in 2009 he answered the question whether he felt threatened in Jenin: „Sometimes more, sometimes less. But it is better than doing the entertainer in Tel Aviv, anyway.“ He was no gambler but an artist and a politically active individual, always prepared to resist. No one embodied the desire to build a bridge between Jews and Palestinians more than Juliano. He was one of those that, on both sides, defend the universality of human rights and critical thinking against the majority opinions in their societies. For them and for all of us the murder of Juliano is both a personal and a political tragedy.
During the tour of the Freedom Theatre in Germany 2009 he said about himself: „I'm sitting on top of the wall.“ An idea that transports freedom and self-confidence but in these times it is a highly dangerous place to be.
Juliano Mer Khamis was 53 years old. He leaves behind his wife Jenny and two children.
There is no alternative to his attitude and to his actions. We will, to the best of our ability, continue along his path.
The medico international team