Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor and political activist, was shot. and killed he was , 52

 Juliano Mer-Khamis was an Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist of Jewish and Christian Arab parentage , was shot. and killed he was , 52. On 4 April 2011, he was assassinated by a masked gunman in the Palestinian city of Jenin, where he established the Freedom Theatre.

( ‎29 May 1958 – 4 April 2011) 

Biography

Juliano Khamis (later Mer-Khamis) was born in Nazareth, the son of Arna Mer, a Jewish communist, and Saliba Khamis, an Israeli-Arab intellectual and one of the leaders of the Israeli Communist Party in the 1950s. He had two brothers, Spartacus and Abir.^[4] His grandfather was Gideon Mer, a scientist who pioneered the study of malaria during the British Mandate.^[5] In his youth, he adopted his maternal surname, Mer, and served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a combat soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade.^[6] In a 2009 interview with Israel Army Radio, Mer-Khamis said of his background: "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish." ^[7]
Mer-Khamis was married to Jenny, a Finnish activist he met in Haifa. They had a son, Jay, and were expecting the birth of twins at the time of his death.^[8]

Film and acting career

Mer-Khamis's first film, The Little Drummer Girl, was an American thriller from 1984 directed by George Roy Hill and starring Diane Keaton, which dealt with the Israeli-Arab conflict. He starred in Avi Nesher'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 (1994), and Overture 1812 (1997). He appeared in several films by Amos Gitai: Kedma, Esther (1986) and Kippur (2000).^[9]
In 2002, Mer-Khamis was nominated for the Ophir award for Best Actor for his role in Kedma.^[10] 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 and Habima Theatre. 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.^{[citation needed]}
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-Khamis lying in state at the al-Midan Theatre, Haifa

In 2006, Mer-Khamis established the Freedom Theatre along with Zakaria Zubeidi, a former military leader of the Jenin Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Jonatan Stanczak, Swedish-Israeli activist, and Dror Feiler, Swedish-Israeli artist. The Freedom Theatre is a community theatre that provides opportunities for the children and youth of the Jenin Refugee Camp by developing skills, self-knowledge and confidence and using the creative process as a model for social change.^[11]

Death

Mer-Khamis was shot by masked gunmen in front of the theater he founded in Jenin.^[12] He was rushed to the Jenin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after his arrival.^[13] PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad 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."^[14]
Based on the testimony of an eyewitness, Palestinian police charged Mujahed Qaniri, from Jenin's refugee camp, with having carried out the murder. There are varying accounts of Qamiri's affiliation, some describe him as a former member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who defected to Hamas, but a Hamas spokesman has denied any involvement, describing this as a purely criminal incident.^{[15] [12]}

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	The Little Drummer Girl	Julio
1985	Not Quite Paradise	Hassan (terrorist)
1985	Za'am V'Tehilah
1985	51 Bar	Thomas
1986	Esther	Haman
1987	Wedding in Galilee (Urs al-Jalil)	Officer
1989	Berlin-Yerushalaim	Menahme
1993	Sipurei Tel-Aviv (Tel Aviv Stories)	Jeno
1993	Zohar	Morris
1993	Deadly Heroes	Ramon
1994	Nothing to Lose	Antonio Valdez
1994	Under the Domim Tree (Etz Hadomim Tafus)	Ariel
1994	Yom Yom	Jules
1997	Overture 1812
2000	The Last Patrol	Jesus Carrero
2000	Kippur	The Captain
2002	Kedma	Moussa
2003	Arna's Children	Himself	Won FIPRESCI Prize
2004	God's Sandbox (Tahara)	Nagim	Nominated for Best Actor
2008	Salt of this Sea	Hiking leader	Palestinian submission for Oscar in "Best Foreign Language Film" category
2009	Hadutha Saghira	Israeli soldier
2010	Miral	Shaikh Saabah

Television and video

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Hostages	Ali	Series
1992	Sweating Bullets	Melito	Series - played in "Don't Say Nothing Bad About My Baby" episode
1995	The Revolutionary	Centurion	Video
1996	The Revolutionary II	Centurion	Video
1998	Florentine	Remi	Series
2001	1000 Calories	Eitan Katz	TV movie
2006	Dijihad!	Omar	TV movie

 

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