seven jewish children

A Play For Gaza

ByMariam Mohanna Salwa

Sammour

Out line• Introduction• Author• Production• References• Quotations• Themes • Stylistic Devices• Responses

Author…

Caryl Churchill

Production

Introduction …

o Title

o Language and structure

o Setting

Issues in the Play

• Holocaust “Tell her there are still people who hate

Jews”

• Jewish Migration to Palestine “Tell her we’re going home

Tell her it’s the land God gave us”

• Expulsion of Palestinians“tell her they’re going away”

Issues in the Play * 48 War

“Tell her we turned them back”

* Dispute over water“Don’t tell her the trouble about the swimming pool”

* First Intifada“Don’t tell her the boy was shot”

* 2008 bombing of Gaza“Don’t tell her how many of them have been killed”

Activists Killed“Don’t tell her about the bulldozer”

Mohammad El- Dorrah“Don’t tell her the boy was shot”

Apartheid Wall “Tell her we need the wall to keep us safe”

El- Sammony Family“Don’t tell her about the family of dead girls”

Quotations….

‘’Tell her her uncles died’’

The suffering of Jews

’‘Tell her they’re Bedouin, they travel about Tell her about camels in the desert and dates’’

We move from place to place no home ‘we are displaced’.

‘’Don’t tell her who used to live in this house’’

‘’Tell her this was not their home’’

They are homeless, it is only a house for them not a home.

Good word choice

‘’Tell her for miles all round they have lands of their own’’

A reference to all Arabs world they can go to any Arab world …… to any land.

‘’Tell her the Hamas fighters have been killed’’

Resistance

The choice of words is very clever….

“Tell her maybe we can share”

Two - State Solution

‘‘Tell her I'm not sorry for them’’‘’Tell her I look at one of their children in blood and what do I fee? Teel her all I feel is happy is not her’’

brutality Cruelty

Themes ….

Palestinian Suffering

Tension within the Israeli Community

Difficulty of Explaining Violence

to Children

Stylistic Devices

•Motif

• Irony

• Subversion

Churchill Blue Truth The Jewish chronicle online The Guardian

Churchill has said she sees the play as a political event

One press report quoted Churchill as saying: ’’Israel has done lots of terrible things in the past, but what happened in Gaza seemed particularly extreme.’’

Caryl Churchill

Churchill has said ‘’she sees the play as a political event’’

Churchill defended herself

Throughout the play, families try to protect children. Finally, one of the parents explodes, saying, “No, stop preventing her from knowing what’s on the TV news”. His outburst is meant, in a small way, to shock during a shocking situation. Is it worse than a picture of Israelis dancing for joy as smoke rises over Gaza?

‘’inspired by Mr. Goldberg, I have written "Seven Muslim Children"

David Mamet

7 Muslim ChildrenTell him to get his gunTell him to shoot the JewsTell him to block the roadTell him to shoot the convoysTell him they can’t have a country hereTell him we were going to have a country tooDon’t tell him we were going to have a country tooTell him the Jews will slaughter himTell him about Deir YassinTell him about Deir YassinTell him about Deir YassinDon’t tell him about Kfar EtzionDon’t tell him about LatrunDon’t tell him about “itbach-al-Yahud”Tell him “itbach-al-Yahud”Tell him we will drive them into the sea

‘’Does the Court’s artistic director, Dominic Cooke, not realise that a play that is critical of, and entirely populated by, characters from one community, can be defended only if it is written by a member of that community?’’

By John Nathan

‘’The play did not strike me as antisemitic.... I cleave strongly to the view that it is possible to be critical of Israel without being antisemitic, and I do not believe that Churchill is making or otherwise implying universal claims about the Jewish people in this play.’’

Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian's chief arts writer, defended the by saying :

Michael Billington

‘’her play becomes a heartfelt lamentation for the future generations who will themselves become victims of the attempted military suppression of Hamas.”

59 well-known British Jews published a letter published in the Daily Telegraph claiming that Seven Jewish Children reinforces "false stereo types" and demonizing Israel for depicting Israelis as "inhuman" who teach their children "Arabs must be hated’’

Anti-Semitism

“ *Tell her I look at their children covered in blood and what do I feel? tell her all I

feel is happy it's not her”

* “I don’t care if we wiped them out”

* “ I laughed when I saw the dead policemen”

* “Tell her we kill far more of them”

* “Don’t tell her her cousin refused to serve in the army ”.

Anti- Semitic vs. Anti-Israeli

Breaking the Silence: In the reality of occupation, there are no Palestinian civilians – only

potential terrorists

I order her. “Where are you going?” I ask, although I know she’s on her way to school.

I turn back to the post to check with HQ that she is not on the wanted list, although I know she isn’t.

I break the silence now because I’ve realized silence is a part of that which enables this to happen.

Video

To watch the video click here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ZDPep3GOY