In the Middle Ages, when most of the population was illiterate and couldn’t read the Bible, theatrical performances — especially Mystery Plays and Miracle Plays — were a keyway to teach biblical stories and moral lessons. These plays dramatized bible stories, making divine mysteries visible and understandable to ordinary people. They were the bible in action so to speak.

Medieval Mystery plays came to mind while I was watching the Ahrar Palestine Community theatrical performance at the Resistance Festival in Brussels on June 7. Through a short skit depicting Israeli violence against Palestinians and resistance by armed keffiyeh-masked actors in battle fatigue, Ahrar made the Palestine story vivid and memorable to the audience there.

“Ahrar” (أحرار) means “free people” or “liberators” in Arabic, a term often used in political or revolutionary contexts. The use of performance to highlight occupation, displacement, and national identity has long been part of grassroots cultural resistance in occupied Palestine. The Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, known for plays like Animal Farm (adapted to critique occupation) and “The Siege” (about the Church of Nativity siege in Bethlehem) and for training actors in resistance storytelling, has faced significant challenges, including arrests, raids, and the assassination of its co-founder, Juliano Mer-Khamis, a Palestinian actor and director who had an Israeli ID. (The other founder is Zakaria Zubeidi, former Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade leader who became an activist.)

In 2022–2023, Mustafa Sheta (theatre manager) and Jamal Abu Joas (actor) were arrested and held under administrative detention (i.e. they were imprisoned with no charges). The theatre continues operating (thanks to the international outcry) but is under severe restrictions.

I mention the experiences of The Freedom Theatre (the most prominent among three such theatres in occupied Palestine — the other two are Al-Kasaba and Al-Harah) in some detail here because of the parallels with the experiences of the annual Resistance Festival in Brussels in terms mixing art and politics to empower Palestinian identity and to spread the message of resistance. Though one is under occupation in Palestine and the other is in Europe, both face repression from Zionist perfidy with similar tactics of repression (alleged guilt by false association with militant Palestinian groups — the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, PFLP, in this case), and both need international grassroots support for protection from Israel and its allies.

The Ahrar Palestine’s performance in Bethlehem Place empowered young people’s Palestinian identity. Several clamored to be photographed with the actors playing militants — representing freedom fighters, not “terrorists”.

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Take a photo with a freedom fighter — Resistance Festival, Brussels, June 7, 2025

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In one of the festival panels, Mohammad Khatib, EU coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, had this to say:
 
 “We are holding this festival without permission from the municipality. This is the third year the mayor has refused to issue a permit for the festival. Instead, he recognizes it as a ‘tolerated protest.’”

A “tolerated protest” (or “manifestation tolérée” in French/Dutch) is a legal gray zone where authorities allow a demonstration to take place without officially authorizing it. This means that organizers do not have the full legal protections of a permitted event. However, police will not forcibly disperse the demonstration unless violence or major disruptions occur. Authorities may impose strict limits (e.g., on location, duration, or slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”). If protesters violate these by deviating from the agreed route, for example, police can intervene. Unlike permitted protests, tolerated ones are more closely monitored, with a higher risk of intervention if things escalate. And since it’s not officially authorized, organizers could face fines or charges if laws are broken.

Brussels uses this status for the Resistance Festival to avoid outright bans, which could spark backlash. To the mayor, Palestine resistance implies endorsement of “incitement to violence against Israel,” and is politically unsavory, hence the “tolerated” status. Revolutionary resistance for Palestinian militants is both a practical strategy and an ideological commitment to ending occupation.

Khatib goes on to say, “… the mayor cannot forbid us to be present in our public spaces; we will be there protesting in Bethlehem Place every end of May beginning of June … we as Samidoun are attacked because we fight for Palestinian resistance. We did so before the 7 of October and we continue to do so after the 7 of Oct. We support the right of the Palestinian people to resist; as an organization, we are nonviolent, but we do not denounce people’s revolutionary resistance; we stand behind it; we support it by all means we can, because this is part of our duty. We stand with the resistance, but we know today it is not only Samidoun that stands with the resistance; tens of thousands of people have been marching and chanting “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

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A Samidoun t-shirt with the slogan “Resistance for a free Palestine” that was being sold at the festival

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Many of the Festival activities take place in Bethlehem Place (“Place Bethléem” in French, “Bethlehemplein” in Dutch). It is a public square located in the Marollen/Marolles neighborhood of Brussels and holds significant cultural and political importance for the Palestinian community there, as well as for activists and organizations advocating for Palestine.

The square was officially renamed “Bethlehem Place” in 1988, in a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people, particularly those in Bethlehem. The renaming coincided with the First Intifada reflecting Brussels’ leftist and pro-Palestinian political leanings at the time. Zionist groups and politicians have criticized the square’s name and symbolism, but it continues to stand as a rare example of a European public space explicitly dedicated to the Palestinian cause, making it a focal point for both celebration and protest.

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Toufan Al-Aqsa soccer tournament at the Resistance festival on June 7. The names of the competing teams are Leila Khaled, Jabalia, Mohammad Sinwar, Rafah, Mohammad El-Deif and Gaza Stars.

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Walking in this area of Brussels (the Marollen), it is easy to have a feel for the working-class people that have historically inhabited it. Nearby, one also finds leftist bookshops, social centers, and migrant-friendly spaces that align with the square’s solidarity ethos.

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Children in the the Marollen area of Brussels

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This Sunday (June 8), pro-Palestine activists involved in the Resistance Festival postponed a planned panel discussion on revolutionary resistance to join hundreds of angry people protesting the police killing of an 11-year-old Moldovan boy called Fabian, who was riding an electric scooter in a park (on June 2nd) when a police vehicle chased and crashed into him causing his death. Demonstrators condemned police brutality, systemic racism in Belgian policing and demanded justice for Fabian.

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Protestor at the “justice for Fabian” protest, June 8, 2025

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I was among the protestors at the demonstration demanding justice for Fabian. At one point, a journalist approached me and asked why I had joined the march. Without going into the overlap between police violence in Europe, U.S., and Israeli violence in Palestine, without linking European police brutality to global systems of racism and colonialism, I simply explained that I was in Brussels to attend the Palestine Resistance Festival and that I was marching for Fabian because justice for Palestine is justice for everyone.

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This article was first published on Medium.

Rima Najjar is a Palestinian whose father’s side of the family comes from the forcibly depopulated village of Lifta on the western outskirts of Jerusalem and whose mother’s side of the family is from Ijzim, south of Haifa. She is an activist, researcher, and retired professor of English literature, Al-Quds University, occupied West Bank. She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Kids posing for a photo with “Ahrar Palestine” actor at the Resistance Festival in Brussels — June 7, 2025 / All images in this article are from the author unless otherwise stated

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