The Freedom theatre – and the fight for Palestinian culture - podcast

In December, a theatre in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank was raided by the Israeli military. Its director, Ahmed Tobasi, says the theatre was smashed, equipment confiscated and graffiti daubed on its walls while he and two colleagues were detained and beaten.

The Guardian’s senior international affairs correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, travelled to the theatre in December to watch a performance and hear more about the theatre and the raid. She tells the theatre’s extraordinary - and controversial history. How it was founded by two men – one the son of a Jewish Israeli and a Palestinian refugee – the other a dangerous militant.

While in Jenin, she watched a performance by local teenagers and heard how acting offered a form of therapy for their ongoing trauma. She tells Nosheen Iqbal how violent life can be in Jenin refugee camp and how life has become dangerous for many Palestinian artists across Gaza. She explains how Tobasi views the theatre as a form of cultural resistance that helps assert a Palestinian cultural identity under occupation. And how necessary the humanising effect of art can be for both sides in the conflict when it comes to making peace.