ISRAEL-THEATRE/PALESTINIANS Palestinian play "1945" portrays life before founding of Israel

Record ID: 399391

  • Title: ISRAEL-THEATRE/PALESTINIANS Palestinian play "1945" portrays life before founding of Israel
  • Date: 29th March 2015
  • Summary: ACTORS ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 13th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5WJMYNS9X3E6M93N1K5G43W9D
  • Story Text: A new play in the Israeli city of Haifa tries to give audiences an idea of life was like for Palestinians 70 years ago, in a production called "1945".
    The time in which it's set is significant as it is three years before the founding of the state of Israel, a day Palestinians refer to as the 'Nakba', or catastrophe.
    The play focuses on the story of a Palestinian village that was preparing for a good harvest season when conflicts start.
    One of the actors in the play, Tarek Kopty, said the play represents a period of great change for Palestinians.
    "We tried to show an idea of (what life was like) after the revolution in 1936 and before the Nakba in 1948. We showed how, in a quiet Palestinian village that is living in happiness during the harvest season, suddenly everything changes and they lose hope and happiness in life," he said.
    The director of the play, Bashar Murkus, said that the play may have been set in 1945, but it has drawn upon theatre techniques and perspectives from the modern day.
    "The most important thing to me regarding this play and its script is that as a director from the third Palestinian generation (since 1948) what can I say about that period (before 1948) and how am I seeing it today. As a result, my tools and techniques in theatre are going to be modern ones according to today's style," he said.
    The play will be showed in many cities in Israel and the West Bank and will participate in festivals in Germany and Morocco.
    An audience member who watched the play in Haifa said "1945" may have been set 60 years ago but it is a reminder that some things haven't changed.
    "It's like someone digging in our memory. We are still living the tragedy until today. We haven't moved on, we're still in the same loop that we entered before the Nakba until today."
    Following the declaration of the founding of the state of Israel in May 1948, some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes in the fighting that followed.
    Those refugees along with their descendants now number around five million are are living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, many of them in squalid camps.
    Refugees cling to a "right of return" and their fate is one of the thorniest issues in efforts to create a Palestinian state.
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