– They broke the front door. I told them: There are children here, don’t be so brutal! But they just kept rushing in. That’s what Ahmed Tobasi tells news. He is a Norwegian citizen, but lives in his Palestinian hometown of Jenin. There he works as artistic director in The Freedom Theatre. On Wednesday morning, he was arrested by Israeli forces at his home. – They destroyed or stole several of my possessions, including my laptop which I had just bought, he says. Then Tobasi says he had his hands tied and blindfolded, before he and his brother Mohammed were taken out through the rain and into a car that took them to a checkpoint. – I tried several times to ask: Why are you doing this? But then they became violent. I have problems with my neck and shoulders after the beatings I received from the soldiers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed to news that a Norwegian citizen was arrested this week and later released. news has asked the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for a comment on the case. They refer to Israel’s Internal Security Service (ISA), which has not yet responded to our inquiries. The Norwegian passport Tobasi says he told the soldiers that he is a Norwegian citizen, but that they did not care. – Do you think that the Norwegian passport meant that you were released earlier? – It can be. My Palestinian colleagues in The Freedom Theater, who were also arrested, have still not been released. He cites Mustafa Sheta and Jamal Abu Joas as examples. Tobasi played to full houses in Oslo this summer. Photo: Nordic Black Theater The actor, director and playwright won the Dramatists’ Association’s solidarity award earlier this year, and also had a theater performance in Oslo in August. He has also previously assisted news on the West Bank. – He played to full houses in Oslo this summer, says Jarl Solheim, manager of the Nordic Black Theatre, to news. Solheim describes Tobasi as a charismatic and serious rock star in his field. Supposed to have razed the premises Freedom Theater describes itself as a community-based cultural center that “uses culture as a form of resistance”. According to the cultural centre, Israeli soldiers are said to have also searched and destroyed their premises on Wednesday morning. – They shot from inside the theatre, destroyed the offices and knocked down a wall, they write in a statement. Tobasi, who lives across the street, allegedly confronted the soldiers and told them to stop. He is said to have then been arrested together with his brother. Vandalized room in The Freedom Theater in Jenin.Vandalized room in The Freedom Theater in Jenin.Vandalized room in The Freedom Theater in Jenin.Vandalized room in The Freedom Theater in Jenin. Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, the conflict in the West Bank has also escalated. According to the UN, 271 people have been killed in the area. They also write that around 70 Palestinians in Jenin should have been arrested on Wednesday. Earlier this year, the director of The Freedom Theatre, Bilal Al-Sadi, was also taken by the Israeli army, according to the cultural center. He will remain in custody. More and more clashes The West Bank has for a long time experienced unrest and clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinian militants. In 2000, a Palestinian uprising, known as the Second Intifada, occurred in response to the severe restrictions placed on the development of a Palestinian state. Tobasi believes that questions about the violence in the West Bank cannot be limited to recent developments. – The violence has been going on for 75 years, he says. 20 years later, Israel believes the area serves as a base for Palestinian militants. In July, the IDF carried out the largest military operation against Jenin in 20 years, in what it described as an “anti-terrorist operation”. After the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, the clashes in the West Bank have become more intense. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Relief in the Palestinian Territories (OCHA), 499 Palestinians and 28 Israelis have been killed in the area so far in 2023. Founder shot and killed In 2006, one of the founders of The Freedom Theatre, Juliano Mer-Khamis, told news that the theater aims to promote cultural communication to children across cultural backgrounds. Mer-Khamis had an Israeli mother and a Palestinian father, and was a former volunteer soldier for the IDF. He has referred to himself as both Jewish and Palestinian. The founder of The Freedom Theatre, Arab-Jewish Juliano Mer-Khamis, was shot and killed outside the theater in 2011. Photo: SAIF DAHLAH / AFP He got the idea for the cultural center from his mother Arna, who in the 90s herself founded an aid project for traumatized people children in the refugee camp. Mer-Khamis was killed by unidentified masked men outside the theater in 2011.
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Norwegian citizen arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
