Palestinian Jerusalemite Children Are Deprived of “Dreams under the Olive Tree”

The Jerusalemite Youth Cultural Forum, having practiced for months for a musical and dance show featuring 70 youth and children, were all costumed and positioned backstage five minutes before showtime at the Palestinian National Theatre, El-Hakawati, in Sheikh Jarrah, when Israeli police and intelligence forces raided the building and ordered everyone out within five minutes. They then posted notices on the front entrance declaring the theater closed for four days, which also meant the second show scheduled for November 29 could not take place, either.

Titled “Dreams under the Olive Tree,” the show included musical, dabkeh, and choir performances—where “dreams of a bright future and celebrations of heritage would meet under the olive tree.”1 The children and youth were dressed in black and red embroidered Palestinian clothing and their spirits high as they gathered backstage ready to head into the spotlights to spread joy and share their dreams and pride in their cultural heritage with the audience.

In Palestinian culture, olive trees symbolize peace and resilience, and on that night, Jerusalem’s children were stripped of their right to dream. This situation is far from rare, as it was the second event in one week that Israeli officials shut down under the pretense that it was funded by the Palestinian Authority (PA), whose activity is prohibited in territory that Israel considers itself sovereign over under the 1994 “Law Concerning the Implementation of the Agreement on Gaza and Jericho Areas,” also referred to as the Restrictions of Activity Law.

There is no evidence that “Dreams under the Olive Tree” was associated with the PA. The Jerusalemite Youth Cultural Forum director reports that the event was purely European funded, including by the European Union, German Goethe Institut, British Council, and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,2 but that did not prevent Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from using the Restrictions of Activity Law to prevent expressions of Palestinian cultural identity in Jerusalem.

Israeli forces also shut down a cultural bazaar for small local projects a few days earlier in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, which was meant to host cultural activities for children as well.