Juliano Mer-Khamis ( he, ג'וליאנו מר ח'מיס; ar, جوليانو مير خميس; born Juliano Khamis; 29 May 19584 April 2011) was an
Israeli
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ...
/
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
actor, director, filmmaker, and political activist of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and Palestinian
Eastern Orthodox Christian parentage. On 4 April 2011, he was assassinated by a masked gunman in the Palestinian city of
Jenin, where he had established
The Freedom Theatre.
Biography
Juliano Khamis (later Mer-Khamis) was born in
Nazareth, the son of
Arna Mer-Khamis, a former
Palmach combatant who had turned communist and joined the
Maki
Maki may refer to:
People
*Mäki, a Finnish surname (includes a list of people with the name)
*Maki (name), a Japanese given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name)
Places
*Maki, Ravar, Kerman Province, Iran
*Maki, Rigan, Ke ...
on experiencing disenchantment with Zionism after having participated in operations to drive
Bedouin inhabitants out of parts of the Negev,
and
Saliba Khamis, an
Israeli Arab
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
of
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
Palestinian Christian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
descent who was an intellectual as well as one of the leaders of the
Israeli Communist Party
The Israeli Communist Party, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Maki (), is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah, an acronym for ''Reshima Komunistit H ...
in the 1950s. He was called Sputnik Hamis at birth.
He had two brothers, Spartacus and Abir. His maternal grandfather was
Gideon Mer, a scientist who pioneered the study of malaria during the
British Mandate.
His father abandoned their household when he was 10 years old. He attended school in Haifa.
His cousin is Palestinian hip-hop singer
Shadia Mansour
Shadia Mansour ( ar, شادية منصور , born 1985), also known as "the first lady of Arabic hip hop" See also is a British-Palestinian rapper who performs in Arabic and English. Much of her music revolves around Middle Eastern politics ...
.
Mer-Khamis' first marriage was to Mishmesh Uri, with whom he had a daughter. At the time of his death, Mer-Khamis was married to Jenny Nyman, a
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
woman who did administrative and fundraising work for the Jenin theater. They had three sons. Khamis saw the birth of one son, but was killed while his wife was pregnant with their twins. She gave birth to the twins a month after his death, and moved to
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
to raise them.
Service in the IDF
Mer-Khamas served in the
Israeli Defense Forces
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli (b ...
as a combat soldier in the
Paratroopers Brigade. He was a volunteer, since the army did not send him his draft papers, and he was eager to fight for his country. He adopted his maternal surname, Mer, dropping the surname Khamis which identified him as an Arab and had caused him problems among fellow Jews.
While his mother was supportive of his enlistment, his father opposed it on grounds that the IDF was a fascist institution. Mer-Khamas didn't disagree, but countered that, 'I must see with my own eyes that they are really fascist'.
[David K. Shipler]
''Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land''
(Times Books, 1986) Crown/Archetype, 2014 pp. 635–638. He was eventually stationed in Jenin. According to him, one of his tasks was to carry a weapons bag and if someone was killed by accident, a weapon would be left on the corpse. Mer-Khamis said that while his squad was engaged in night-time firing practice they shot a shoulder missile at a donkey, accidentally killing a young girl seated on it. Mer-Khamis said that a load of explosives were left on the donkey to cover up the incident.
He recalls beating up Palestinian protestors after they refused to disperse. When asked why, he recalled:
'I wanted to be on one side. I wanted to be with somebody. Because I felt like nobody.'
At one point he refused to obey his commanding officer's order to frisk an elderly man, punching the former instead, and spent several months in prison. His release was won by the direct intervention of
Isser Harel
Isser Harel ( he, איסר הראל, 1912 – 18 February 2003) was spymaster of the intelligence and the security services of Israel and the Director of the Mossad (1952–1963). In his capacity as Mossad director he oversaw the capture and co ...
, who was his mother's cousin.
Theatre interest, travel and return
On his release from the stockade, he enrolled in acting school, and discovered his abilities in that field. He made an appearance in ''
The Little Drummer Girl'', a film which deals with Palestinian terrorism.
In 1987 he spent a year in the Philippines, consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms and talking to monkeys. It was there that he felt, according to a later declaration, that he had shaken off all identities. On his return, he lived as a beachcomber in Tel Aviv. He protested against Israel's response to the
First Intifada by stripping himself and walking about covered in fake blood. Mishmish Or, an Israeli Jew of Turkish paternal and Egyptian maternal descent, picked him up off the sidewalks and gave him shelter. The two would eventually have a daughter together, Milay. In the meantime his mother Arna set up a children's center to teach over 1500 children in the Jenin camp and asked her son to join her there to teach
drama therapy.
When the
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel ...
broke out, two of his former students, Yusuf Sweitat and Nidal al-Jabali, became suicide bombers in October 2001 at
Hadera
Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...
. Two weeks earlier, a girl whom Sweitat had salvaged from a school classroom that had just been bombed by the IDF died as he carried her to the hospital.
Hearing the news, Juliano returned to Jenin a month after the
Battle of Jenin had begun. His host was a former student, Ala’a Sabbagh, then aged 22, leader of Jenin's
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades () is a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank. The organization has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.
L ...
, and he spent several months on patrol with men on Israel's hit list, and in hideouts, with Sabbagh and
Zakaria Zubeidi, whose mother had been killed in April 2002 by an Israeli sniper who perhaps mistook her for her son Tata, who was also subsequently shot dead an hour later. He made a film on the period, ''
Arna's Children'', released in 2004.
Outside of the theater he devoted himself to allaying everyday problems: driving pregnant women to Israeli hospitals, or Jenin's children to Haifa's beaches, or providing medicines and food.
In a 2009 interview with
Israel Army Radio
Army Radio ( he, גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) or Galei Tzahal, known in Israel by its acronym Galatz ( he, גל"צ), is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic report ...
, Mer-Khamis said of his background: "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish."
Mer-Khamis was married to Jenny Nyman, a
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
activist he met in Haifa in May 2006. They had a son, Jay, and were expecting the birth of twins at the time of his death.
The theater he founded thrives, under the general management of Swedish-Israeli Jonathan Stanczyk, with actor Nabil al-Raee as artistic director.
Film and acting career
Mer-Khamis's first film, ''
The Little Drummer Girl'', was an American thriller from 1984 directed by
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill (December 20, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' (1969) and ''The Sting'' (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Re ...
and starring
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...
, which dealt with the
Israeli-Arab conflict
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
. He starred in
Avi Nesher
Avi Nesher ( Hebrew: אבי נשר; born 13 December 1952) is an Israeli film producer, film director, screenwriter and actor.
Biography
Avi Nesher was born and raised in Ramat Gan, Israel. The child of a Romanian-born diplomat, and a mother w ...
's film, ''
Za'am V'Tehilah'' (1985). Later he appeared in such Israeli films as ''
51 Bar'' (1985), ''
Wedding in Galilee'' (1987), ''
Tel Aviv Stories'' (1992), ''
Zohar'' (1993), ''
Under the Domim Tree
''Under the Domim Tree'' ( he, עץ הדומים תפוס, Etz Hadomim Tafus) is a 1994 Israeli film based on the 1992 book of the same name by Gila Almagor. The film was directed by Eli Cohen, and screened in the Un Certain Regard section at ...
'' (1994), and ''
Overture 1812'' (1997). He appeared in several films by
Amos Gitai
Amos Gitai ( he, עמוס גיתאי; born 11 October 1950) is an Israeli filmmaker, who was trained as an architect.
Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and ...
: ''
Kedma'', ''
Esther
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
'' (1986) and ''
Kippur
''Kippur'' (כיפור) is a 2000 Israeli drama war film directed by Amos Gitai. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Gitai and Marie-Jose Sanselme; based on Gitai's own experiences as a member of a helicopter rescue crew dur ...
'' (2000).
In 2002, Mer-Khamis was nominated for the
Ophir Award
The Ophir Awards ( he, פרס אופיר), colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. The award, named ...
for Best Actor for his role in ''
Kedma''.
One of the last films in which he appeared was the Palestinian film ''
Salt of this Sea'' (2008), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
He performed on stage with
Beit Lessin Theater
Beit Lessin Theater ( he, תיאטרון בית ליסין, translit: ''Teatron Bet Lessin'') is a theater in Tel Aviv, Israel.
History
The theater was established in 1980 by Yaakov Agmon for the Histadrut.
Over the years the theater has shown ov ...
and
Habima Theatre
The Habima Theatre ( he, תיאטרון הבימה ''Te'atron HaBima'', lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv.
History ...
. In 2003, he produced and directed his first documentary film, ''
Arna's Children'', together with
Danniel Danniel. The film is about his mother's work to establish a children's theatre group in Jenin during the 1980s. Seven years after the death of his mother, and following the battle in Jenin in 2002, Mer-Khamis returned to Jenin to meet and interview the children who participated in the theater, and found out that some became militants and were killed.
In 2011 he joined the faculty of the
Academy of Performing Arts, Tel Aviv, where he taught acting until his assassination.
In 2006, following a wave of international support which was followed by his film, Mer-Khamis opened a community theater for children and adults in Jenin, called The Freedom Theatre.
The Freedom Theatre
![Juliano Mer Funeral 1 (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Juliano_Mer_Funeral_1_%283%29.JPG)
In 2006, Mer-Khamis established
The Freedom Theatre along with Zakaria Zubeidi, a former military leader of the Jenin
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades () is a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank. The organization has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.
L ...
, Jonatan Stanczak, a Swedish-Israeli activist, and
Dror Feiler
Dror Elimelech Feiler ( he, דרור אלימלך פיילר; born 31 August 1951) is an Israeli-born Swedish musician, artist and left-wing activist. He is married to the artist Gunilla Sköld-Feiler.
Early life and career
Feiler was born in T ...
, a Swedish-Israeli artist. The Freedom Theatre is a community theatre that provides opportunities for the children and youth of the
Jenin Refugee Camp
Jenin Camp ( ar, مخيم جنين) is a 0.42 sq km Palestinian refugee camp north of the West Bank in the city of Jenin. It was established in 1953 after a snowstorm destroyed most of the original camp. The camp was also severely affected during t ...
by developing skills, self-knowledge and confidence and using the creative process as a model for social change.
Assassination
Mer-Khamis was shot by masked gunmen while leaving the theater he had founded in Jenin. He had just started to drive away in his Citroen, with his baby son Jay on his lap, when a masked gunman emerged from a nearby alley and asked him to stop. The babysitter with them advised him to drive on, but he stopped, and was shot five times.
[Adam Schatz]
"The Life and Death of Juliano Mer-Khamis"
at '' London Review of Books'', vol. 35, No. 22, 21 November 2013 pp. 3–11. He was rushed to the Jenin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after his arrival.
PA Prime Minister
Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad ( ar, سلام فياض, ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a Jordanian-Palestinian politician and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and Finance Minister.
He was Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and ...
condemned the killing, saying that "We cannot stand silent in the face of this ugly crime, it constitutes a grave violation that goes beyond all principles and human values and it contravenes with the customs and ethics of co-existence."
In an interview in 2008, Juliano had foreseen the circumstances of his murder, predicting jokingly that he would be killed by a 'fucked-up Palestinian' for 'corrupting the youth of Islam'.
After being identified by the babysitter in three separate lineups, one Mujahed Qaniri, from Jenin's refugee camp, was charged by
Palestinian police with the murder. On 19 April 2011, Adnan Dameery, spokesperson for the
Palestinian Security Forces, reported DNA tests had exonerated the only detained suspect and that the murderer was still at large.
Killer Of Israeli-Palestinian Director Still At Large
International Middle East Media Center
The International Middle East Media Center (or IMEMC) is an independent news organization run by Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories, working together with international journalists, who report on events in both Israel and the Pale ...
. 19 April 2011. Accessed 27 December 2011.
Filmography
Television and video
References
External links
*
The Murder of an Actor/Activist
– slideshow by '' Life magazine''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkhamis, Juliano
1958 births
2011 deaths
Deaths by firearm in the West Bank
People from Nazareth
Israeli activists
Arab-Israeli film directors
Israeli film directors
Israeli male stage actors
Israeli male film actors
Israeli Arab Jews
Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Israeli murder victims
People murdered in the Palestinian territories
Palestinian male film actors
Israeli male television actors
Jews in the State of Palestine
Palestinian male stage actors
Palestinian male actors