Winter 2006
By Azza Basarudin
The central characters of Jamil Khoury's Precious Stones are two women, Andrea - a Jewish-American woman, born and raised in Chicago and daughter of Holocaust survivors from Krakow, Poland - and Leila - a Palestinian woman, born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and daughter of refugees expelled from Jaffa, Palestine in 1948. Against the backdrop of the first Palestinian Intifada, this play takes place in Chicago in 1989 when Andrea and Leila come together to organize a Jewish/Arab dialogue group and end up falling in love. In this two-actor play, Khoury has two actresses play six characters. The actress who plays Andrea, the central Jewish character, also plays two Palestinian characters, including a Palestinian man, and the actress who plays Leila, the central Palestinian character, also plays two Jewish characters. According to Khoury, the triple roles allow "each actor to embody varied and often-contradictory perspectives and is an artistic nod to the theoretical premise that empathy with one's 'other' is essential to creating meaningful dialogue."
I came across Khoury's play while browsing the web. The storyline and reviews from academics, artists, and others were so impressive that I contacted Khoury about the possibility of performing at UCLA for International Women's Month. On March 8, 2005, Precious Stones, an award-winning play (John W. Schmid After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work, 2003) was performed at UCLA, funded by Campus Programs Committee of the Program Activities Board at UCLA, and co-sponsored by Women in the World (Women's Studies Graduate Student Association), the UCLA Women's Studies Program, and Center for the Study of Women. I spoke to Jamil Khoury about his play, work, passion and activism in June 2005.
Asked how and why he came to write Precious Stones, Khoury explained that as an undergraduate at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, various student groups were mobilizing during the first Palestinian Intifada and the many grassroots and resistance movements galvanized his interest. He wanted to be involved in some way and applied to work with the United Nations. From 1989 to 1990, he served as a Refugee Affairs Officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jerusalem and the West Bank. His work with UNRWA gave him the opportunity to experience the Intifada first hand and he gained a better understanding of both the Palestinian and Israeli communities. Khoury returned to the United States for graduate school, and produced his first play in 1995. However, the time he spent in Jerusalem and the West Bank was never far from his mind for it was a personal, intellectual and emotional journey. "Since completing my work with the UNRWA, I have been flirting with the idea of writing a play on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I want the play to take place in the context of the American Diaspora because I want to focus on the relationship between these two communities on American soil. The idea for the two main characters, Andrea and Leila is actually a compilation of many people I know, my own experiences, perspectives and ideas that have been surrounding me all these years." He said, "I have been writing down my notes and thoughts on note cards about this play since resigning my post as a Refugee Officer, and there are literally hundreds and hundreds of note cards on ideas for this play."
Clearly, Precious Stones is a labor of love. The world premiere of Precious Stones was produced by Silk Road Theatre Project (co-founded by Khoury and his life partner Malik Gillani) at the Chicago Cultural Center's Studio Theater in 2003. Since than, this playwright and his company have embarked on a College Tour of Precious Stones, performing at Georgetown University, University of Minnesota, Occidental College, Indiana University and University of Chicago, to name a few.
Silk Road Theatre Project came into being after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Khoury and Gillani felt the immediate need to respond to the rising anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments across the United States following the attacks. Khoury and his partner hoped creative means to counter the rising Islamophobia and xenophobia in addition to negative representation of Middle Eastern peoples would open more hearts and minds. "We are a result of 9/11. In addition to responding to the aftermath of the attacks, for a long time in this country, diversity means African American and we want to show that is not the case," Khoury said.
Khoury decided to embark on the College Tour because, "I am hoping to pave the way for dialogue between the two communities and people interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through creative means. Given that this conflict is an emotional issue on both sides, more often than not, it is extremely challenging to form a dialogue free from hostility, anger, and accusations. I want a space where people from both communities (and also people interested in this conflict) can come together and experience the "other" in good faith and theatre seems like a promising way to do so. This play has a strong pedagogical quality to it in that there is a lot of information that gets conveyed such as issues of nationalism, class, gender, sexuality, humanity, tolerance, misunderstanding, pain, sadness and loss. It deals with the narrative and legacy of persecution and suffering on both sides."
Jews are a learned people. We ask questions. We seek the truth. Why is it that when it comes to Israel, we all turn deaf, dumb, and blind? - Andrea
Why should we be the ones to pay the price for your people's suffering? We're not responsible for what happened, the Germans are. If Jews needed a state so badly, why didn't they take a piece of Germany? - Leila
As for the title of the play, Khoury explained that stones certainly had an effect on him when he was a Refugee Officer because he was always in the midst of stones and bullets during his time there. He recounts, "It is such a powerful sight to watch Palestinian kids who are unarmed throw rocks at Israeli soldiers with lethal weapons. Stones and rocks were the only available weapon because the grounds in the West Bank is quite rocky and stones are readily available almost anywhere. To the Israelis the stones were lethal weapons and I can identify with that because I have had a couple of near misses when stones came flying into UN vehicles. I am enamored by these stone throwers because they are so brave and resilient but at the same time I also became very afraid of stones because of my near misses." He chose to name his play Precious Stones for the irony it is capable of conveying in this conflict - "When we think of precious stones, we think of images of rubies, diamonds, sapphires, but here it the most basic, almost primitive weapon that became a symbol of self-determination and resistance."
However, Khoury decided to take the issue of the stones further and looked at it from the tradition of the three monotheistic religion, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and tie all the interesting stone-related themes together: The Ka'aba, Islam's most sacred of shrines, anointed by a giant black stone, al-hajar al-aswad; Walls of Jericho, walls built of stone; armed only with a stone and a sling-shot, little David, the Israelite, slew the ferocious Goliath; the stoning of the Devil at Hajj; Jews leaving stones at gravesites; Jesus' body buried under a giant rock; the stories from the old testament of the stoning of the adulteress woman.
Jews face a wall of stones, communing with God. Prayers written on tightly folded pieces of paper, tucked between the stones of that wall, perched below the Temple Mount, Jerusalem's Western Wall. - Andrea
The Dome of the Rock, centerpiece of the Jerusalem panorama, with its glittery gold dome and exquisite mosaics, Islam's first architectural masterpiece, built on the site of a giant rock. - Leila
When asked why he chose to write sexuality into the play, Khoury said, "looking at personal relationships is a powerful way to convey a message; emotional, intellectual and/or political." True to his feminism, he decided to create this play within the context of a relationship between a Jewish American and a Palestinian women because "all my life I have been so influenced by women on both sides of the equation as activists, theories, artists, writers, so forth." As a queer feminist, the gay liberation movement and feminism influenced and shaped the playwright's personal and political outlook. He said, "It's hard for me to separate the two; my coming out as a gay man was in tandem of my coming out as a feminist. I see the analysis of feminism around gender and the gay liberation movement around sexuality as completing each other." A staunch feminist, Khoury felt that it is disturbing yet understandable why many men are threatened by the feminist movement and of feminism: "clearly it is threatening for men when women are empowered; men see it as losing their privilege; having to give up male privilege. For someone like me who is always at odds with the construction and maintenance of masculinity in our society, I ran with feminism; it provides all the answers that are lacking in male-female relationship in our society. Being a gay man has liberated me from the constraint of being a man in this society."
Khoury has been involved in activism surrounding gay/lesbian/queer politics since his undergraduate days at Georgetown and was also very involved in the Arab and Muslim communities in Chicago. The need to write sexuality into this conflict became more apparent when he realized that his two worlds were not meeting and there was a huge disconnect between these two issues. Born of a Syrian father and a Slovakian-Polish-American mother, he said, "as a bifurcated person I felt the separation of my mixed-blood Arab side and my queer feminist side is unfair. Precious Stones is an outcome of this long effort on my part to integrate these various aspects of my identity and life." Khoury is aware that the telling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspectives of lesbian relationship will not sit well with many people. The playwright said, "there are people who really get it and really appreciate the fact that I integrated sexuality into the conflict but there are others who find it distracting, diluting and weakening the real issue at hand, which is the national issue."
I have fought way too hard to get where I am in my community. I ran myself ragged trying to gain their trust, everyone whispering that I'm this bourgeois upper class woman from a family of snobs who hasn't a clue what it means to be Palestinian. Now you want me to tell them I'm gay? In my culture, Arab culture, being gay is perceived as something Western. Most Arabs I know would tell you Arab lesbians don't even exist. - Leila
If you're going to fight to liberate Palestine, you should also fight to liberate Palestinian lesbians. You should fight to liberate yourself. - Andrea
Oh great, I'm going to fight for gay rights in Palestine when we don't even have our own state! We're stateless and living in squalor! Gay rights is a luxury my people can't afford. - Leila
The emphasis on class difference in this play is unmistakable. Khoury believes that it is impossible to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without addressing the class element. "It's hard not to discuss class when we talk of inequality between Israelis and Palestinians - the enormous economic inequality between the largely improvised Palestinian population and largely middle class, relatively prosperous Israeli population. Israelis got used to Palestinians providing cheap labor similar to how the American economy is dependent on cheap Mexican labor. Therefore, not to address the class issue does a disservice to a broader context of the conflict," he said, "I wanted to flip the class element; the daughter of Palestinian elites and the daughter of working class holocaust survivor; Leila has a level of personal security and personal power that many of her people may not enjoy and the same goes for Andrea since anxiety about money affects Andrea's politics and passions."
As to whether or not he plans to take this play to Israel-Palestine, Khoury is hopeful: "The issue is so delicate. There are many Israeli individuals who have expressed interest but I don't want this play to turn into an Israeli only production. I want this play to be performed as an effort on both sides. I want this play to be staged at a space where both sides of the communities are able to come and enjoy the play. However, with all that is going on now, the checkpoints, violence, etc, it's almost physically impossible."
Khoury is critical of the Arab nations and leaders who have used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a way to deflect criticism of their morally and politically bankrupt regimes. "Most Arabs critiques Israel, but we don't turn the critique inwards. For a lot of people in the Arab world Israel has become a way to ward off self-criticism. Israel has come to represent all the evils in the world and all the injustices," he said.
Khoury hopes Precious Stones challenges both Jews and Arabs on many different levels. "I hope that this play allows people to rethink their own biases and prejudices, and broadens their perspectives, in addition to humanizing people on both sides of the conflict and the issues involves," he said.
No, you're missing the point. As a Palestinian, I am tired of being asked to constantly compete with the Holocaust. Over 400 Palestinian villages were wiped off the map! They were systematically and deliberately destroyed. What solace is your family's suffering to a mother in a refugee camp whose son has just been killed for throwing a stone, and whose home is being bulldozed by the army? What do we say to her? "Gee, tough luck lady. At least it isn't the Holocaust." - Leila
No! (pause) It would be so much easier for us if the Palestinians would embrace non-violent civil disobedience. Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King style. Throwing stones doesn't exactly endear us to your cause, Leila. - Andrea
But it's the only language Israelis understand. An eye for an eye. For 20 years Palestinians resisted occupation non-violently, sit-ins, strikes, peaceful demonstrations, and what did it get us? More brutality from Israel. - Leila
Resisted non-violently? The PLO? Blowing up buses, hi-jacking airplanes, murdering athletes... - Andrea
We condemn those acts! They only hurt our cause. You have no idea how important this intifadah is to us, do you? The intifadah has given us back our dignity! It's given us hope. Those brave little children, the ones who throw stones, the ones who risk life and limb to be free. Those are our heroes, Andrea. They make us proud to be Arab. - Leila
I hear you. I understand. But by refusing to adopt more peaceful tactics, by continuing to throw stones, you're fueling the worst fears of Jews. Jews have a deep visceral fear of extermination. I have it. We all have it. - Andrea
"If anything, this play should instilled the desire to know more, to motivate people to go out and read and discover on their own," Khoury said, "I have been told by many people it has helped them sort through their own personal conflicts, for example, after the performance at UCLA, a Jewish guy came up to me. He said that he was raised to be very pro-Israel, but this play has helped him empathize with the other side. At Pomona an Egyptian guy came up to me and said that he always thought that Israel does not have a right to exist but this play showed him that the issue is debatable i.e., why Jews should have a country." On a personal level, Khoury admitted that this play had allowed him to exercise a lot of his frustrations, and put many issues in context. "I don't want to reduce it to personal therapy, but it helped me come to terms with the Jewish narrative around Israel - the attachment, insecurity and powerlessness of the survival of a people and faith.," he said, "Writing this play has been such a healthy process for me and I hope experiencing this play can have the same effect for many others."
Azza Basarudin was a Ph.D candidate in the Women's Studies Program at UCLA.