Fw: Haifa University Theatre

[Denis Salter]

Dear Colleagues, as nearly as I can tell this was not published on our
listserv.  I say "nearly as I can tell" for there has been a flurry of
missives over the last few days, many of them contradicting each other with
some heat.  Apologies for any cross-postings.--Denis.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Freddie Rokem" <rokem at POST.TAU.AC.IL>
To: <SCUDD at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 2:53 AM
Subject: Haifa University Theatre


> I have received a number of personal mails as well as list-mails
> concerning Professor Avi Oz and the Haifa University Theatre, and I want
> to relate to these, because I feel that my silence is a form of
> complicity within a system where dissident (and to my view also moral)
> views are frequently repressed or marginalized in different ways.
> Israel is going through the darkest period ever in its short history.
> The ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people and the prevention of
> the right of Palestinian self-determination have given rise to
> practices, like the road-blocks, the separation wall, etc. that I abhor
> and condemn.
> Haifa University has the largest Arab (Israeli) student body of all of
> the universities in Israel. These are not the  occupied  Palestinians
> (in what will become independent Palestine), but the Arabs/Palestinians
> who are Israeli citizens and who also suffer from different forms of
> discrimination. The official number of Arab students in Haifa is 20%,
> reflecting the percentage of the population in Israel. There are many
> reasons for this   geographic, economical   and an openness on the part
> of the university authorities, even if they at different times have also
> prevented these students to express their views freely.
> Haifa University is an ideal growing ground for a theatre practicing
> dialogue, fostering mutual understanding, and preparing (hopefully) for
> the stage of reconciliation. And Avi, together with the other leaders of
> the theatre have done very important work in this respect. They are
> however not the only ones in Israel doing this   there is also an
> Arab-Hebrew theatre in Yaffo, a suburb of Tel Aviv, putting on a large
> number of (co-)productions every year; and there are programs at the
> Hebrew University as well as in the Tel Aviv University that I know of
> working with the same goals.
>
> But in Haifa something apparently went wrong. The university claims that
> the Haifa University Theatre never received a proper legal status and
> that there was never any decision to transform the Theatre Department
> theatre (working for the pedagogical aims of the students) into a
> theatre where students from all over the university as well as graduates
> can participate. The Haifa University Dean of Humanities Yossi Ben-Artzi
> has also hinted at economical irregularities.
> I do not want to be a judge in this matter   I just want you to know
> that there seem to be two sides to this coin too. The university has
> appointed a committee to investigate what has happened   because it
> seems they were not even aware of what was happening under their own
> roof. I am not claiming that the results reached by this committee will
> be fully objective and can be accepted by all involved. But I do think
> that we should demand that the conclusions of this committee will be
> made public in English, and as soon as possible, so that all the people
> who have expressed their concern for what is happening in this country
> will be informed. After that we also want to hear what Avi s
> understanding of these findings is.
> I think it is extremely important that people like you voice your
> opposition to the official Israeli policies against the Palestinian
> people. Many of us in Israel do, every day, and I believe that with your
> help it is possible to bring about a change. Claims that are inexact do
> not help our cause.
>
> Freddie Rokem
>
> Professor of Theatre and Dean of the Faculty of the Arts
> Tel Aviv University
> Tel Aviv, Israel
>
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