Open Letter to the Israeli Security Apparatus

11 August 2011

This is an open letter from representatives of the international volunteers and staff members, the friends, supporters and foundation of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin to the Israeli security apparatus including the Shabak, the IDF and Israeli Police.

After the attack on The Freedom Theatre's office and multimedia centre, during which you arrested our head technician Adnan Naghnaghiye and Bilal Saadi, the chairperson of The Freedom Theatre Board in Jenin; and after you have for two weeks refused Adnan and Bilaal access to a lawyer, treated them inhumanely and denied them their basic human rights, and after the arrest of our acting student Rami Hwayel, we hereby state:

We encourage all efforts to find whoever is responsible for the brutal murder of Juliano Mer Khamis and we are deeply concerned over the fact that the murderer has not yet been found. Nevertheless we reject the inhumane methods that you apply in investigating the murder. The Freedom Theatre has been seriously damaged by your actions which have further implanted fear and trauma not only among our students and employees but also into the very society we aim to empower.

By acting the way that you act you have once again proved to the residents of Jenin refugee camp as well as to the outside world that the only methods you know are the ones involving violence, terror and fear. We in The Freedom Theatre have nothing to conceal regarding the murder of Juliano Mer Khamis.

We have made that very clear and we state it again that everyone in the theatre has given statements to the Palestinian Police when they were asked to do so and are willing to do so again.

No matter what harm you cause to us or the theatre, we will continue our struggle for individual and collective liberation. We have joined our comrades in Jenin Refugee Camp in their struggle for liberation using culture and non-violence in order to not only shake off the occupation that you keep the Palestinian people under, but also other forms of oppression that they are faced with.

We demand that our friends and colleagues who have been subjected to severe cases of human rights abuses will be treated with absolute respect for all their basic human rights according to international conventions, receive immediate access to their lawyer and be promptly released.

The international staff, friends and supporters of The Freedom Theatre as represented by:

Jacob Gough, acting general manager at The Freedom Theatre

Micaela Miranda, Pedagogical Director at The Freedom Theatre

Jonatan Stanczak, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre

Udi Aloni, film and theatre director at The Freedom Theatre

Dror Feiler, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre and board member of The Freedom Theatre Foundation

Jan Tiselius and Britt-Louise Tillbom, chairpersons of the Friends of The Freedom Theatre (Sweden)

Constancia Dinky Romilly, president, Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre (USA)

Mrs Zahia Oumakhlouf and Mrs Marie-José El-Haimer, co-presidents of The Friends of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin (France)

You can also make your voice heard!

Contact your local The Freedom Theatre friendship association, or contact The Freedom Theatre if you want to start a group in your own country.

For more information on local groups: http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/support-friend.php

or contact us at: info@thefreedomtheatre.org