From 17th – 29th March 2014, students, artists and activists from across Palestine and abroad will join Palestinians at risk of forced expulsion from their ancestral homelands. The March Freedom Ride will include building and reconstruction work, protective presence activity, guided walks, interactive workshops, political actions and cultural events. Through Playback Theatre, residents of the Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills will also share personal accounts about the realities of life and struggle under settler colonialism, military occupation and structural apartheid.

ORGANISERS

The Freedom Theatre (www.thefreedomtheatre.org) in partnership with Jordan Valley Solidarity (www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org) and the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee.

REGISTRATION/CONTACT

For Arabic enquiries/registration, please email Alia: info@thefreedomtheatre.org For English enquiries/registration, please email Sonja: sonrevolution@aol.com

THE FREEDOM BUS

The Freedom Bus, an initiative of The Freedom Theatre, uses interactive theatre and cultural activism to bear witness, raise awareness and build alliances throughout occupied Palestine and beyond. Endorsers of the Freedom Bus include Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, John Berger, Judith Butler, Luisa Morgantini, Maya Angelou, Mairead Maguire, Mazin Qumsiyeh, Noam Chomsky, Omar Barghouti and Peter Brook. The Freedom Bus is also endorsed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel(PACBI). A range of other artists, activists, academics and organizations have endorsed the Freedom Bus ONLINE Web: www.freedombus.ps Blog: freedombuspalestine.wordpress.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/thefreedombus Twitter: twitter.com/#!/FreedomBusPal PLAYBACK THEATRE Audience members share autobiographical accounts and watch as a team of actors and musicians instantly transform these accounts into improvised theatre pieces. Playback Theatre provides opportunity for education, trauma response and community building

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON AREA C, THE JORDAN VALLEY AND SOUTH HEBRON HILLS

Under the Oslo II Accord of 1995, the West Bank was divided into 3 administrative regions know as Area A, B and C. Area C includes 61% of the West Bank and falls under complete Israeli civil and military control International law prohibits land appropriation, resource exploitation and population transfer by an occupying power. However since the 1970’s, Israel has confiscated the vast majority of Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills (both of which are currently located in Area C). In the Jordan Valley for example, 50% of land has been illegally taken for the exclusive use of 36 settlements and their agriculture. A further 45% of land has been taken for military bases, ‘closed military zones’, and so-called ‘nature reserves.’ In addition, life for Palestinian residents of the South Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley is characterized by home demolitions, confiscation of livestock, restricted access to farming land and daily harassment from settlers and the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Most communities lack basic services including schools, clinics, electricity, telephone lines, running-water, or a sewage system and infrastructure built to meet these needs is frequently demolished under orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration. Despite these egregious human rights violations, Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills have exerted their right to exist and survive on their traditional lands.

For more information about the Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills, please see: