Juliano Mer-Chamis

Juliano Mer-Chamis (2010)

Juliano Mer-Chamis ( Hebrew ג'וליאנו מֵר חמיס, Arabic جوليانو مير خميس Dschulyanu Mir Khamis ; * May 29, 1958 in Nazareth ; † April 4, 2011 in Jenin , West Bank ) was an Israeli actor , film director and political activist. He was shot dead by a masked perpetrator in the West Bank.

Life

His parents were Arna Mer , a Jewish activist who campaigned for Palestinian rights , and Saliba Chamis , an Arab-Christian Israeli, one of the leaders of the Israeli Communist Party in the 1950s.

In his youth, Mer-Chamis served under his mother's name as a member of the Paratrooper Brigade in the Israeli army . In an interview with Israeli military radio in 2009 , Mer-Chamis explained his origins: "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish."

Mer-Chamis also took a stand in the Israeli-Arab conflict and always spoke out against the Israeli occupation. He also stood up for the observance of human rights in the occupied territories. He joked about leading a dangerous "life between stools".

The Freedom Theater

The idea of a theater for young people goes back to an initiative of his mother who founded a so-called “stone theater” during the First Intifada to offer traumatized young people in the refugee camp new perspectives. In 2006, Mer-Chamis continued his mother's work by founding the Freedom Theater in Jenin with Zakaria Zubeidi , the former military leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin, Jonatan Stanczak , an Israeli activist of Swedish descent, and Dror Feiler , a Swedish-Israeli artist.

The Freedom Theater is a community theater that aims to enable children and young people from the Jenin refugee camp to develop their talent and self-confidence in order to contribute to the service of social progress. Due to its international reputation, Mer-Chamis was able to provide the theater with financial support and make tours possible. Wanted to realize the last project, the Mer-Khamis was the socially critical drama Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind . The theater was repeatedly hostile to conservative Palestinians in the West Bank. Several threatening phone calls are said to have been made, flyers raised the mood against the theater, and arson attacks were carried out on the theater twice.

assassination

Mer-Chamis was shot by a masked perpetrator in front of his theater in the presence of his son. When he arrived at the Jenin hospital, only his death could be determined. Palestinian police arrested one person as a prime suspect shortly after the attack. According to various sources, the suspect, whose name is Mujahed Qaniri, is a Hamas member or an independent former arms smuggler for Islamists, while Hamas lists him as a Fatah member.

Filmography

As an actor

For years, Mer-Chamis worked as an Israeli television and cinema actor. His films include:

The Little Drummer Girl, 1984
Za'am V'Tehilah, 1987
51 Bar, 1985
Urs al-Jalil, 1987
Tel Aviv Stories, 1992
Zohar, 1993
Etz Hadomim Tafus, 1994
Overture 1812, 1997
Yom Yom, 1998
Berlin-Yerushalaim, 1989
Esther, 1986
Kippur, 2000
Kedma , 2002
Tahara, 2004

As a producer

Arna's children, 2004, documentation, 84 min.

Web links

Juliano Mer-Khamis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Stephanie Dötzer: On the death of Juliano Mer-Khamis: 100 percent Juliano . Obituary.
The Freedom Theater

Individual evidence

↑ Elior Levy: Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis shot dead in Jenin ; Ynetnews of April 4, 2011 (English; Hebrew version )
↑ Tami Zer, Sjifra Herschberg: Weddings on the Frontline. Muslims and Jews joined in love face ancient hatreds ( Memento December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); Macleans, October 27, 2003.
↑ Saif Dahlah: Jewish-Arab director shot dead in northern West Bank . Agence France Presse, April 4, 2011, on google.com
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Susanne Knaul: When hope dies ; taz of April 6, 2001
↑ ^a ^b Alex Rühle: Bridge builder between all the broken chairs . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 6, 2011
↑ Oren Kessler, Khaled Abu Toameh: Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis gunned down in Jenin . In: Jerusalem Post , April 4, 2011.
↑ Clemens Verenkotte: Theater director shot in Jenin. Grief and horror after the murder of Mer Khamis . ( Memento from April 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Message on tagesschau.de from April 5, 2011.
^ Jenin militant charged over theater director murder , Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on April 14, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2011.

personal data
SURNAME	Mer-Chamis, Juliano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mer-Khamis, Juliano; ג'וליאנו מֵר חמיס (Hebrew); جوليانو مير خميس (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Israeli actor, film director and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 29, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nazareth
DATE OF DEATH	April 4, 2011
Place of death	Jenin , West Bank

[1] Elior Levy: Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis shot dead in Jenin ; Ynetnews of April 4, 2011 (English; Hebrew version )

[2] Tami Zer, Sjifra Herschberg: Weddings on the Frontline. Muslims and Jews joined in love face ancient hatreds ( Memento December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); Macleans, October 27, 2003.

[3] Saif Dahlah: Jewish-Arab director shot dead in northern West Bank . Agence France Presse, April 4, 2011, on google.com

[taz-4] Susanne Knaul: When hope dies ; taz of April 6, 2001

[SZ-5] Alex Rühle: Bridge builder between all the broken chairs . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 6, 2011

[6] Oren Kessler, Khaled Abu Toameh: Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis gunned down in Jenin . In: Jerusalem Post , April 4, 2011.

[7] Clemens Verenkotte: Theater director shot in Jenin. Grief and horror after the murder of Mer Khamis . ( Memento from April 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Message on tagesschau.de from April 5, 2011.

[8] Jenin militant charged over theater director murder , Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on April 14, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2011.