<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis shot dead in&nbsp;Jenin]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone"><strong>Witnesses say actor – who ran a drama project in a Palestinian refugee camp – was shot five times by masked men</strong></p>
<p><a style="text-decoration:none;" name="fb_share" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2011%2Fapr%2F04%2Fisraeli-peace-activist-shot-dead&amp;t=Israeli%20peace%20activist%20Juliano%20Mer%20Khamis%20shot%20dead%20in%20Jenin%20%7C%20World%20news%20%7C%20The%20Guardian&amp;src=sp"><span class="fb_share_size_Small "><span class="FBConnectButton FBConnectButton_Small" style="cursor:pointer;"><span class="FBConnectButton_Text"> </span></span></span></a><span class="contributor">Conal Urquhart </span> in Jerusalem 				| guardian.co.uk,			 																		 				            Monday 4 April 2011 18.38 BST</p>
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<div id="article-wrapper"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/4/4/1301938695395/Mer-Khamis-had-received-d-007.jpg" alt="Mer Khamis had received death threats for his work in Jenin" width="460" height="276" /> Mer Khamis had received death threats for his work in Jenin. Photograph: Saif Dahlah/AFP/Getty Images&nbsp;</p>
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<p>An Israeli actor and peace activist who ran a drama project in a  Palestinian refugee camp has been shot dead by masked men, metres from  the theatre he founded.</p>
<p>Juliano Mer Khamis, 52, had received  threats for his work in Jenin in the northern West Bank but continued to  divide his time between Jenin and Haifa in the north of <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Israel" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israel">Israel</a>. Witnesses said he was shot five times.</p>
<p>Mer  Khamis appeared in a number of Israeli films after his first film role  in the 1984 production of the John Le Carre novel The Little Drummer  Girl, about Mossad&#8217;s hunt for a PLO bomber.</p>
<p>He was born to a  Jewish mother and an Arab Christian father. His mother, Arna, was  renowned for setting up a theatre group in Jenin during the first  Intifada which started in 1987. Mer Khamis directed the film Arna&#8217;s  Children, which celebrated her work, which he continued after her death  in 1994. His wife, Jenny, a Finn, is pregnant with twins. She heard of  his death from Israeli radio.</p>
<p>Mer Khamis&#8217;s body was transported to an Israeli checkpoint, from where it was taken to Tel Aviv for a postmortem examination.</p>
<p>While  his work was widely appreciated by Palestinians, his bringing together  of young men and women angered conservative Muslim elements in Jenin. In  addition to threats, fire bombs were thrown at the theatre. However the  project was supported by local militants. Zakaria Zubeidi, a leader of  the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, frequented the theatre as a child.</p>
<p>Kadura  Musa, governor of Jenin, said: &#8220;He was a Palestinian citizen of Israeli  origin. An actor and an artist but most of all a true human being. We  don&#8217;t know why this happened, but all the people of the camp condemn the  death of this son of ours whose mother also did so much for the people  of Jenin.&#8221;</p>
<p>Alaa Eddin Saadi lives next to the theatre, and said  that Mer Khamis was shot while in a car also carrying his one-year old  son and his nanny, who was wounded in the hand. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think he was  killed because he was Jewish. Some people were angry with the liberal  values he was promoting at the theatre, but to me he was a very nice guy  who worked hard for the people here.&#8221;</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/israeli-peace-activist-shot-dead">Source</a></p>
<h2><strong>Related</strong></h2>
<p>In honor of his life and work, The Palestine  Monitor posts the film Arna’s Children, a documentary about Mer-Khamis’  mother and her struggle to fight Israeli and Palestinian injustice from  the stage.</p>
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<li> <strong>SPECIAL TOPIC | <a href="http://wp.me/P16sn9-5kQ">JULIANO MER-KHAMIS | ARNA’S CHILDREN</a></strong></li>
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