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If I'm not mistaken, she's the same toolbag who wrote the recent hit-piece on BDS. - Amith On Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 6:20 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > (Something new for the NYT, an Arab reporter--the first since the late an > great Anthony Shadid.) > > NY Times, June 14 2015 > Play Set in Israeli Prison Imperils Arab Theater > By DIAA HADID > > HAIFA, Israel — The play had been staged many times for Arabic-speaking > audiences in Israel without controversy. But a performance with Hebrew > subtitles for a wider audience was all it took to touch off a major furor. > > The play, “Parallel Time,” explores the personal details of prison life > for a Palestinian man convicted of killing an Israeli soldier. Though it is > fictional, the story closely resembles a real case that has inspired strong > emotions in Israeli society. > > The family of the murdered Israeli soldier protested outside Al-Midan > Theater in Haifa, which produced the show. The city of Haifa froze the > theater’s financing and began an investigation into its activities. The > Culture Ministry, which established the theater in 1994, opened its own > inquiry. The Education Ministry retracted the play’s eligibility for > subsidized performances for students. > > “The citizens of Israel will not pay out of their pockets for plays that > accept the murders of soldiers,” said Naftali Bennett, the education > minister, who leads the hawkish Jewish Home party. > > The controversy, which has been raging since the second subtitled > performance in mid-April, has thrown the survival of Al-Midan, Israel’s > largest Arab theater, into doubt. And it has laid bare some of the > contradictions and constraints of life as a minority for Palestinians in > Israel. > > Palestinian cultural leaders and artists have been more vocal in recent > years in expressing a narrative of dispossession and inequality. Meanwhile, > Israel has been drifting rightward and shrinking the cultural space open to > Palestinian artists. > > “They don’t want to hear any other opinion,” said Salwa Nakkara, the > theater’s artistic director, “as if there is no occupation, as if there is > peace and everything is wonderful, as if we are not an ethnic minority.” > > The ruckus has not been limited to “Parallel Time.” Within a few days, a > controversy erupted over a prominent Arab-Israeli actor’s refusal to > perform with an Israeli theater troupe at a Jewish settlement in the > occupied West Bank. In response, the culture minister, Miri Regev, > threatened to withdraw government financing for a children’s theater that > the actor, Norman Issa, heads. > > “Parallel Time” was inspired by the case of Walid Dakka, who was convicted > of involvement in the 1984 kidnapping and murder of an Israeli soldier, > Moshe Tamam. > > Mr. Dakka, 53, has served nearly 30 years of his 37-year sentence. He has > maintained from the beginning that he is innocent, and he advocates > pacifism along with Palestinian nationalism. He married a woman who visited > him and other inmates in prison, and for 13 years he has been waging a > legal battle for conjugal visits, hoping for a child. > > The play does not dwell on why the character inspired by Mr. Dakka is in > prison. Instead it uses simple lighting and props to tease out the > insecurities of life behind bars. His budding romance with a female visitor > is depicted through the woman’s reading of his poignant letters. > > It also examines absurdities of prison life. One character serving a long > sentence is obsessed with whether automobile tires have improved since he > was locked up. > > “Why do you want to know?” a new arrival asks. > > “In case my future car gets a puncture!” the older prisoner replies. > > The play was staged in Arab communities for two years, including in nine > schools. Then Bashar Murkus, the director, translated it into Hebrew and > staged a performance with Hebrew subtitles at Haifa University in May 2014. > The performance itself was surprisingly successful, Mr. Murkus said, and > Al-Midan decided to repeat it at its own theater as part of Palestinian > Prisoners Week, held in Haifa in April. > > “We and the theater thought it was important to show it to a Jewish > audience,” said Mr. Murkus, “to show them the lives of the prisoners.” > > But then a reporter called the play to the attention of the Tamam family, > who responded with outrage. “My heart wasn’t beating,” said Ortal Tamam, > 26, the slain soldier’s niece. Mr. Dakka, she said, “tortured my uncle and > kidnapped him and murdered him — and he is your hero?” > > Mr. Tamam’s family maintains that he was tortured before he was killed, > but Abeer Baker, one of Mr. Dakka’s lawyers, says there is no mention of > any torture in the court documents. > > Word of the play spread in Israel at a time when a new right-wing > governing coalition was being formed, and when feelings were still running > high over the war with Hamas in Gaza last summer. > > Opponents of the play acknowledge that it does not glorify violence. The > problem, they say, is its sympathetic focus on a character who is based on > a convicted murderer. > > Shay Blumental, a municipal councilor in Haifa, said the theater had made > matters worse by presenting the play “in the framework of marking > Palestinian Prisoners Day, which is another name for the Palestinian > Terrorists Day.” Mr. Blumental was referring to Palestinian Prisoners Week. > > “Every year I’ve raised my hand in support of the theater, because I think > it is important that there be a theater for Arab culture,” Mr. Blumental > said. “But — and this is a big but — if the theater decided to take a step > that is political, there is a price.” > > Ms. Nakkara, the artistic director, accused the Culture Ministry of > wanting art “to be used in the service of their government.” > > The theater’s latest play, “1945,” is about life in a Palestinian village > as World War II ends and the 1948 Middle East conflict looms. > > Unlike Al-Midan, many Arab artists and cultural institutions in Israel > avoid taking government money. They do so in part to support broader calls > for a boycott of the Israeli government and Israeli companies over > violations of Palestinian rights, but also to avoid censorship of their > work. > > The Arab bloc in the Israeli Parliament, known as the Joint List, has > tentatively issued its own call for a boycott. In a statement issued after > the controversy over the play, the bloc asked foreign consulates to > “reconsider your bilateral cultural cooperation” with Israel if the > government did not stop what it called the harassment of critical artists > and institutions. > > Mr. Murkus, the director, said he was glad “Parallel Time” was attracting > so much attention. > > “I’m proud that the play could shake these people, and the state, and show > their real selves,” he said. “It’s very important to remember, for those > who have forgotten, where we are, and what state we are working in — we are > in a state of occupation, and not a state of democracy.” > > Jodi Rudoren and Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem. > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
