The Matzpen Commission on the Military Rule

For 19 years, until 1966, most Palestinian citizens of Israel lived under the Military Rule. During this time, its functions were investigated by a battery of government-appointed committees, which heard testimonies from military governors, senior military officials, ministers and the subjects of the Military Rule themselves, in secrecy, behind closed doors. Many of the transcript pages containing these testimonies have been declassified in recent years thanks to our work. Now, these testimonies, which offer a glimpse into the collective consciousness and personal attitudes of the people who planned, designed and implemented the Military Rule, are taking to the stage.

Based on thousands of pages of transcripts declassified as part of our running research on the Military Rule, we are currently working with director Einat Weizman and Tamuna Theater in Tel Aviv on a special docu-theater, in which members of the left-wing movement Matzpen, who were instrumental in the long struggle to abolish the Military Rule, will portray the witnesses appearing before the committees. The texts they deliver are taken directly from the testimonies.

The show “The Matzpen Commission on the Military Rule” will be performed (in Hebrew) twice as part of Tmuna Theater’s A-Genre Festival, on Saturday, July 27.

Purchase tickets here, on the theater’s website.