A bitter-sweet play, "Stories under the Occupation", is reflecting Palestinian resistance to Israeli military sieges and bombardments with humor and pathos, contrasting with the violence of the world outside the theatre.
"The situation of the Palestinians is only a piece of news for the world, but for us, it is our day-to-day existence, death, tears and struggle for a normal life in the face of disaster and doubt," said Abed Al-Jubeh, the play's director.
On the stage of the al-Kassaba Theater at the heart of the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian actors aged between 23 and 53 emerge, like pieces of news, from behind piles of newspapers.
In a succession of black-humored monologues, the actors voice poignant calls of live and let live, without vituperative speeches or nationalist slogans.
The sole woman of the troupe, 23-year-old Georgina Asfur, says that she wants "the Israelis to see the play so that they feel what the Palestinians are experiencing."
Her monologue, entitled "Normal", has already been read at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where "it had a great impact on our Jewish comrades," she said.
"It made them aware that another nation, which was living and suffering, existed next to them," she said.
The young Jerusalem-born actress said laughter was the way they chose to relay the message.
"It is the worst that brings out laughter, as the (Arab) proverb says. Our situation is as difficult as laughable. We laugh about it, or else we could not survive," she said.
In her monologue, she declares: "At the beginning of the intifada (Palestinian uprising), the Arab countries were outraged. We said, great, they are going to liberate us (from Israeli occupation)."
"Then, nothing happened. Normal!" she adds, shrugging her shoulders.
The play, which draws enthusiastic audiences once a week in Ramallah, has won awards at the Lift festival in Britain and the festival of experimental theater in Cairo in 2001.
"It reflects our daily life. We laugh, but our laughter hides a deep sadness," said Rogina, a spectator.
"The play is a reflection of Palestinian life, very miserable but always with a glimmer of hope and irony," said Paul Euziere, president of the Festival Transmediterranee who hopes to host the play in France.
"It is so humane that it does not require major adaptation to touch foreigners," he said.
Khalifa Natur plays the role of a literacy teacher.
When he calls out the letter "B," his students shout: "Bombardment;" to the letter "M," they respond with "Martyr," and when he asks about the "N," they lower their heads to say: "Nakbe," or the catastrophe inflicted on the Arabs at the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Emad Farjeen has the role of a young man dreaming of becoming an actor who was convinced that the "peace dove of Oslo (the peace accords with Israel in 1993) would carry him on its wings to Hollywood."
One day, the young man visits the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest shrine where the intifada broke out after a visit to the site on September 28, 2000, by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Thinking that a movie was being filmed on the site, the young man aspiring to become an actor said: "I asked who was the actor, they answered me: Sharon."
"But why does Sharon Stone have such a huge belly?" he retorts ironically.
Kamel Al-Basha plays the role of a Muslim Palestinian refugee who has spent his entire life "imploring God" to allow him to return home.
"When I was young, I believed that God only existed for me. But when I grew up, I understood that he was also here for others: Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and even Jews," he concluded -- AFP
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
