Combatants for Peace – Breaking down barriers
24 September 2013, De Balie Amsterdam
In this taboo-breaking evening Palestinians and Israelis will stand together on stage and tell us about their own, often harrowing experiences. Personal stories and played scenes are interwoven during this evening of “hope in action” involving not only the members of the organization, but where the public is invited to participate as well (‘spect-acting’).
Combatants for Peace fight with theater as a weapon against occupation and oppression. It is a group of Palestinians and Israelis who in the past were part of the violent side of the conflict, Israelis as soldiers in the army and the Palestinians as participants in the violent struggle for freedom of the Palestinian people. All decided that this approach, the occupation and armed struggle, is no solution to the conflict. The group now works exclusively with nonviolent protest, often in a playful manner. In this way they use theater to make taboo themes available and to bring both parties closer to each other.
The evening is interesting for anyone who does not want to accept the one-sided picture of the conflict we find in the media and who wants to know how it is for Palestinians and Israelis to ‘swim against the (political) tide’. The spoken language is Arabic and Hebrew with English translation.