A PALESTINIAN theatre company with strong links to Scotland has been devastated during the Israeli army’s three-day invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
An official statement from The Freedom Theatre of Jenin (FTJ) said that their theatre was ransacked and leading members of the company detained and badly beaten.
“On the morning of the 13th of December, the Israeli army began attacking and ransacking The Freedom Theatre,” the statement read. “They shot from inside the theatre, destroying the offices and knocking down a wall,” it continued.
The company says that, following the assault on the theatre building, the Israeli forces then went to the homes of FTJ’s artistic director Ahmed Tobasi and company producer and general manager Mustafa Sheta, where they proceeded to blindfold, handcuff and detain the two men.
Later that day, according to FTJ’s account, Israeli soldiers went to the home of the company’s acting teacher Jamal Abu Joas, beat him and detained him.
The arrests and beatings led to an international outcry. The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) published a statement expressing its “deep concern” at the detention of the three FTJ members and calling for their immediate release.
According to the most recent information, Tobasi has now been released, but is suffering leg and back pain having been beaten by Israeli soldiers. The other two men continue to be in Israeli detention, according to the latest reports.
“They treated us like animals,” said Tobasi, in a statement released by FTJ. “They are trying to hurt us in any way they can,” he continued, “but it’s important we stay strong.”
FTJ urged concerned citizens worldwide to continue to demand the release of Sheta, Joas and the more than 100 Palestinians seized by Israeli forces during the three-day incursion into the Jenin camp. Rasha Sheta, wife of Mustafa Sheta, said: “He was arrested on December 13 from our house in the city of Jenin where he was handcuffed and taken in front of our children with no mercy or any consideration to our feelings.
“My children spent their night crying. We felt so scared without him being with us. We feel very sad for him being away, especially since we don’t know why he was arrested. We call for everyone who can help us to stand with my husband and release him.”
The theatre company points out that this is not the first time that FTJ and its members have been targeted by the Israeli army. The attacks of recent days, “follow the murder of three members of The Freedom Theatre in the last few weeks including 17-year-old theatre participant Yamen Jarrar, 26-year-old Jehad Naghniyeh and 30 year old Mohammed Matahen”, the company said.
The statement added that these deaths came after the killing in June of youth theatre participants Sadeel Naghnaghia (who was 15 years old) and Mahmoud Al-Sadi (who was aged 17). In July, the company said, “The Freedom Theatre was damaged due to bombing during a three-day invasion and technician Adnan Torokman was detained for four days by the Israeli army.”
FTJ is a company well known to many people in the Scottish theatre community and civic society. The company visited Scotland in 2015, when they were guests of honour at a civic reception held at Glasgow City Chambers. On that occasion they gave a performance of their play The Siege at the city’s Tron Theatre.
Ben Harrison, artistic director of the acclaimed Edinburgh-based theatre company Grid Iron, has worked extensively with Palestinian theatre-makers in the West Bank. He told the Sunday National: “I view with dismay the detention and torture of members of the Jenin Freedom Theatre this week.
“It’s part of a campaign of violence against them that began much earlier this year and long before the events of October 7. The State of Israel’s claim that their unprecedented assault on Gaza is solely connected with their desire to punish Hamas is given the lie by the massive increase in IDF [Israeli Defence Force] and settler violence in the West Bank where Hamas are neither very active nor dominant.
“The UK and US governments have given the Israeli state the green light to act with impunity in Gaza and the West Bank and, worse, are actually arming the IDF. Having witnessed at first hand the aggression of the Israeli army in Hebron this year, I stand in solidarity with all Palestinians and Palestinian artists at this frightening and unpredictable time.”
The Freedom Theatre is calling on its supporters around the world to support the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the illegal Israeli Occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
