Juliano Mer Khamis, Israeli Actor And Activist, Shot Dead By Gunman In West Bank

(Reuters) - A masked gunman shot dead on Monday a well-known Israeli actor and director who worked in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin, a Palestinian security source said.

Juliano Mer Khamis, 52, was killed in his car in Jenin's refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the source said, adding that the motive was not immediately clear.

"We are investigating," the source added.

Mer Khamis was the head of Jenin's Freedom Theater, the only such venue in the northern West Bank.

The project generated hostility from some Palestinians. In an interview with Reuters in 2009 Mer Khamis said this was because of a "ghetto mentality" and "dictatorship of tradition" built up under Israeli occupation.

The Jenin refugee camp was set up in 1953 and is home to some 16,000 Palestinians. It witnessed one of the fiercest Palestinian-Israeli battles during the peak of the second intifada, or uprising, in 2002.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a statement condemning the killing. "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," he said.

Many Israelis from the film and theater world also expressed their shock at the killing.

"I was stunned, I stopped breathing, he was a person I liked so much ... this is such an absurd murder because he went there to give," said film director Avi Nesher.

"He was a special person, brave but crazy to do what he did," said fellow actor Alon Abutbul.

Mer Khamis was born in the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth to a Jewish-Israeli mother and an Israeli-Arab Christian father. He served in the Israeli army as a paratrooper and portrayed Israeli Jews in many of his roles both in film and on stage.

He appeared in almost 30 movies, including "The Little Drummer Girl" a 1984 American thriller based on the John Le Carre book of the same name that starred Diane Keaton.

(Reporting by Ali Samoudi, writing by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Yank in France]

12:23 PM on 05/03/2011

As I stated at the very beginning of this thread, this horrible murder should UNITE all Palestinians and Israelis of good faith, not divide them.

After all, he was both Palestinian and Israeli, and both peoples have reason to weap over his murder, starting with the people of Jenin.

Sadly, the most repugnant extremists from both sides would have us believe this totally sensely act justifies increased internecine violence as opposed to working toward the love and friendship Mr Mer Khamis worked for so hard!

If he were alive today, he would surely urge us to intensify the search for peace. To do anything less is to play into the hands of terrorists and settlers alike!

[Erewhon7]

01:10 PM on 04/07/2011

Typical farce

On Juliano Mer Khamis:

"I would not rule out a false flag attack."
"t's quite an assumption given that there are no suspects yet...
"Palestini­ans didn't kiII him as a whole".
"this is a tragic and complicate­d ....it's easy to jump to conclusion­s."
"It seems obvious to me you are rushing to judgement on this in the absence of facts.”
"It is rather complex…"
“We don't know who did this, and as such, we should not jump to conclusion­s."

----------­----------­----------
On Sudan attack:

“This proves once again that IsraeI does not respect internatio­nal law.”
" This is true."
"IDF carried out an attack in Sudan"

WAIT!
Whatever happened to “We don't know who did this, and as such, we should not jump to conclusion­s." and .... "I would not rule out a false flag attack"

[misaacm]

09:51 AM on 04/07/2011

So a Hamas member killed Mer Khamis. I wonder if they are handing out candies in Gaza today.

[Erewhon7]

02:40 PM on 04/07/2011

No. Just rocks.

[YafoDalet]

01:52 AM on 04/07/2011

The amount of comments on this article is telling. It looks like the commenters on HP are not ready to deal with issues that do not fit their preconceived notions of the situation in the ME.

[pollerocampero]

06:00 PM on 04/06/2011

It is so sad. We need peace between Israel and Palestine.

[TheLonelyGod]

01:01 PM on 04/06/2011

A suspect has been charged:

http://tinyurl.com/5vb45wa

[Stoopid American]

12:54 PM on 04/06/2011

Now we will hear that this actor's murder is justification for another ten thousand settlement units in the West Bank.

[VanTroi]

10:31 AM on 04/06/2011

I stated that he is a Palestinian and my comment was removed!

[Kramerica-Industries]

12:21 PM on 04/06/2011

From the article.
Mer Khamis was born in the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth to a Jewish-Israeli mother and an Israeli-Arab Christian father. He served in the Israeli army as a paratrooper and portrayed Israeli Jews in many of his roles both in film and on stage.

[Avirahim]

03:14 PM on 04/06/2011

"In a 2009 interview with Israel Army Radio, Mer-Khamis said of his background "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliano_Mer_Khamis

[amake616]

09:33 AM on 04/06/2011

It oftens seems as if there's no such thing in the West Bank Gaza as a plain old regular murder that's treated as such. Your girlfriend's boyfriend blows your head off, your mother in law hires a hitman, your wife gets fed up and sets you on fire, you lose it with your employer and jump him after work. The jump to a political conclusion is (once again) extremely quick in this case.

[LAThinker]

03:11 PM on 04/06/2011

Except in this case it was no mother on law

http://tin­yurl.com/5­vb45wa

[amake616]

07:59 PM on 04/06/2011

Wow, good for them :) Impressively fast and professional. Something the PA can be proud of.

[BestGuest]

09:14 AM on 04/06/2011

I like this little plug: "The project generated hostility from some Palestinians"

So we are supposed to think…..

[CigarGod]

11:00 AM on 04/06/2011

No, you are supposed to react.
I'm sure if one looked...one could also find some Israeli's with hostile feelings toward him/the project.

Good call, btw.
Hard to find an article that isn't peppered with these seemingly innocuous comments.
Have a cigar.

[Kramerica-Industries]

12:25 PM on 04/06/2011

Hamas are blaming Fatah, Fatah are blaming Hamas, but only in the world of HP the Palestinians can do no wrong are sure its always the Mossad or the Thais.

[Yank in France]

12:35 PM on 05/03/2011

No, KI, no one views the Palestinians as blameless. Eeh gads, both sides are so blameful that it would be impossible to paint one or the other as Snow White.

But the interesting point in this cowardly and sensely murder is that NEITHER the PLO nor Hamas want any part of it. Apparently the guy who was arrested acted on his own, although we cannot be sure at this point.

However, when both Hamas and the PLO denounce this crime, that means there is absolutely zero popular support for such a heinous act; quite the contrary!

[Kramerica-Industries]

09:06 AM on 04/06/2011

Human Rights Watch urges the international community to use collective punishment against the Palestinian people.

Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression."

The group urged international donors to demand the Palestinian Authority - which receives hundreds of millions of dollars in Western support each year - stop the practice as a condition for receiving aid.
Why do they want to punish the poor and deprived Palestinians which depand on this this aid to survive for the actions of their government?

http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/human-rights-watch-palestinian-forces-abuse-journalists-1.354431

[MadMoll]

04:14 PM on 04/08/2011

Perhaps, because so little actually gets to the Palestinian people?

[TheLonelyGod]

04:24 AM on 04/06/2011

What was it that someone said on the Winston Churchill thread? "This is how Zionists treat their friends?"

Well I guess this is how Palestinians treat *their* friends, in that case.

[notfooledbyu]

12:01 PM on 04/06/2011

Of course the Israeli hasbara approach is to assume it was a Palestinian in absence of any evidence. Was this covered in your media kit?

[TheLonelyGod]

12:53 PM on 04/06/2011

Give it a freaking rest. A suspect has already been charged...by the Palestinians!

http://tinyurl.com/5vb45wa

[FairuzGhowar]

05:45 AM on 04/07/2011

Please not here Please. He was my friend. Palestinians didn't kill him as a whole. YOU DON"T KNOW THIS WAS A HATE CRIME. His "friends" 1000's of Palestinians mourn him. Stop. just say rip.

[nicholas B]

12:48 PM on 05/03/2011

I am sorry for your loss, take some comfort in the achievements of his life. His memory will live on with you.

[Yank in France]

03:45 AM on 04/06/2011

This is a truly tragic incident, and I sincerely hope Juliano Mer Khamis's murders will be brought to justice, but it is at least a very good sign that Palestinians are openly mourning this Palestinian-Israeli (or vice versa if you like).


This is how one Palestinian woman described her feelings:


"Why?” wailed one girl. “We also have dreams. We can’t go on without him. Was it too much for us to have one good person?”


In the same Washington Post article, it is stated:


"Mer Khamis, remembered here as a passionate and charismatic figure, was the driving force behind the theater, established in 2006 as a creative alternative for youngsters in the Jenin camp, home to Palestinian families pushed out of what is now Israel when the Jewish state was created in 1948. The project was a successor to a children’s theater group set up in the late 1980s by Mer Khamis’s mother, Arna, who sought to remedy the hardship of camp life with therapeutic drama."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/palestinians-mourn-israeli-mentor/2011/04/05/AFNc3dlC_story.html?hpid=z3

My heart goes out to the family of Juliano Mer Khamis and to all those Palestinians and Israelis who benefited from his love, generosity and goodness!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/palestinians-mourn-israeli-mentor/2011/04/05/AFNc3dlC_story.html?hpid=z3

[amake616]

10:11 AM on 04/06/2011

Fantastic post.

[Yank in France]

10:41 AM on 04/06/2011

Thank you amake. I hope people remember Mer Khamis in the future. On the Jewish side of his family, many of his family perished in the concentration camps whereas on the Palestinian side, his family lost all their property, home and homeland with the creation of Israel in 1948.

Torn between two sides, Mer Khamis, and his mother before him, strove to bridge the gap that separates these two people. Unfortunately, he message of hope and love was quashed by the forces of hatred and desperation.

Or has it be quashed? Hope may have life beyond that of its messenger in this case!

[prometheus]

02:28 AM on 04/06/2011

RIP; they need more people like you. Fostering understanding and cooperation in the arts is just one small part in helping produce peace.

[TheLonelyGod]

02:50 AM on 04/06/2011

His family
His friends
His coworkers
His students
Everyone whose lives he has ever touched

For starters.