Arna Mer-Chamis

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Arna Mer-Chamis

Arna Mer-Chamis (born March 20, 1929 in Rosh Pina , † February 15, 1995 ; Hebrew ארנה מר ח'מיס) was an Israeli human rights activist and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award .

Life

Mer was born in Rosh Pina in Palestine , her father was Professor Gideon Mer , a Jewish researcher who was mainly concerned with the fight against malaria . At the age of 16, she joined the paramilitary Palmach and wore the keffiyeh . After the Palestine War in 1948 she joined the Communist Party and married the “Red Boss” of Nazareth, the trade unionist Saliba Khamis .

The couple lived in a party mission in Prague , where Saliba worked on the magazine Problems of Peace and Socialism . The three sons Juliano , Spartakus and Abir grew up there and in Moscow .

Since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip after 1967, she has been arrested several times for her political activities. During the First Intifada , the Israeli military closed all schools for a long time. Arna went to the Jenin refugee camp and opened a school there using unconventional methods. Among other things, she also founded a theater group and by 1993, when Arna was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm, her institution had grown to 1,500 children, 15 employees and 25 volunteers.

She later developed cancer and died in February 1995. Her son Juliano was with her work in Jenin and portrayed them in his 2004 film Arna's Children . Another portrait can be found in the novel Civil Defense by Sami Michael , who is also a member of the party and knew the couple Mer-Chamis well.

Movies

• Arna's children , documentary, 2004, 84 min.

Web links

• Portrait at rightlivelihoodaward.org (English)
• Memorial page (English; web archive)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.