“No more silence, no more fear”: Youth Against Invasion

The Freedom Theatre is a theatre and cultural centre in Jenin refugee camp, occupied Palestine. We stage professional theatre productions; hold theatre workshops in the refugee camp, Jenin town, and villages; offer training in acting, pedagogy, and photography; and publish books, exhibitions, and short films.

Since we opened our doors in 2006, we have made theatre and visual art available to every young person in Jenin refugee camp. Our work has made Jenin refugee camp known in Palestine and internationally for innovative, thought-provoking theatre and media productions. We have created a generation of artists and leaders, who one day will be at the forefront of the Palestinian liberation movement.

Artists on the Frontline is a creative force for radical artists using culture as a form of resistance.

Led by those at the forefront of social and political transformation, we work at the intersection of arts, activism, and politics, creating everything from theatre to protest performance, virtual reality to immersive audio, platforms for citizen journalism and digital archives.

Award-winning projects build space for groundbreaking, revolutionary, and uncensored exchanges—where bold ideas ignite action, innovative models of organising are born, and cultural resistance powers change.

Youth Against Invasion is a bold, unflinching collection of poetry, essay, and personal reflections edited by Yasmin Shalaldeh and Zoe Lafferty and written by Palestine’s most dynamic young voices. Eight artists between the ages of 19–25 who live in different refugee camps, villages and cities in the West Bank and 48, each brings a unique perspective of the challenges they face. A defiant act of cultural resistance, their words shatter silence, confront oppression, and demand justice.

For all texts and full credits: https://www.artistsonthefrontline.com/youth-against-invasion

Freedom Under Siege

Yahya Marei

Among all the previous raids, this raid was the hardest, because the leaders of freedom, those who taught me what freedom means, were imprisoned.

Despite the pressure we are going through, the phrase ‘freedom under siege’ came to mind. I recall what Ahmad Tobasi said, quoting Juliano Mer-Khamis, “The theatre is my AK47”.

With all this internal struggle and feelings of revenge, a sense of strength emerges, the strength of the theatre.

Suddenly, an armed Israeli force storms right next to my house, arresting a group of young men and women, my neighbours. As I look out the window, a mix of emotions floods over me. Looking at my family, I feel fear. Looking at the soldiers, I feel strength and the will to resist.

A Zionist commander calls to me, issuing a threat, “You’re causing a lot of trouble. Watch out for yourself.” Meanwhile, amidst the gunfire, the local news network composed of mothers reports, “The Freedom Theatre has been raided, its property completely destroyed.”

I remember one of the plays that required an actor to portray an Israeli soldier…. Now, the real soldier is in the theatre, and the actor, Jamal Abu Joas, is imprisoned.

The occupying forces are trying to suppress all cultural and historical landmarks in Jenin, raiding theatres and demolishing our important landmarks.

I call upon the entire world to take to the streets, wear Palestinian attire, and sing Palestinian songs. I call on you, to express our culture worldwide.

Maps of Emotion

Aya Samara

I write to free my emotions from the confines of my body, to give them a voice rather than silent suffocation.

Writing is my way of mapping the uncharted terrain of my soul, turning pain into living words, and weaving a tapestry from thoughts too heavy to hold.

Writing allows me to gather my scattered thoughts, shape the chaos of my days, document dreams that flicker like distant stars, and express a self that is both fragile and fierce.

Each sentence becomes a trail, guiding me through the dense forests of memory and the vast deserts of longing.

It is not merely an act; it is a way to explore the landscapes within me and beyond.

A compass to orient my direction. A cartographer marking the milestones of a journey through hardship, hope, and resilience.

Through writing, I balance between the real and the imagined, travel across time, invent worlds, redraw borders, and paint reality with vivid, unflinching colours.

Through words, I make sense of the complexities of life, sketching a map that holds both the paths I’ve travelled and the ones I dare to dream.

Writing is a revival of my soul, a thread connecting to my deepest parts, helping me feel the pulse of others’ pain and navigate the unspoken.

Words become a home to recount a childhood scarred by shadows, heal fears etched into the marrow of my being, and nourish roots with love, despite the cracks of hardship.

I write for an identity forged through struggle and love, one too rooted to be erased. I write to preserve the memories that refuse to fade, no matter how time or destruction tries to obliterate them.

It is how I whisper to the world that we are still here. Each story, a marker, helping me and others trace the shared humanity that binds us.

Through writing, I leave behind a map of emotions and stories, proof that even in the face of loss and destruction, we endure.

A way to trace the contours of the self, to navigate the intersections of past and future and to record the contradictions that shape our existence.

I write for the life I deserve—a life renewed, unshackled by fear. I write for freedom, to preserve what was, to make sense of what is and to chart what could be.

It sharpens my vision of the world’s colours, softens the edges of a harsh reality, and fuels my endless capacity to dream.

Writing is my solace, a way to understand the future, to embrace power, a reminder why I must never stop, a strength that refuses to dim.

A way of mapping the landmarks where joy and pain, loss and hope, collide. Waypoints for those who follow, an atlas of resilience.