Authorities in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin have shut down a youth orchestra, boarded up its rehearsal studio and banned its conductor from entering the camp after she took 13 young musicians to perform for Holocaust survivors in Israel. Wafa Younes took the children from her ‘Strings of Freedom’ orchestra to sing songs of peace as part of an annual Good Deeds Day, organized by one of Israel's richest woman. But once parents and leaders in Jenin realized where the group had been, they shut down the program, saying Younes had dragged the children into a political issue.
A community leader in the Jenin camp, Adnan Hindi, said the musicians' parents had not known where Younes was taking their children to Israel and were angry when they learned of the performance from media reports. "She exploited the children for a big political issue," Hindi, head of a camp committee responsible for municipal duties, told the news agency AP. Hindi did not deny there was a Holocaust, but said Palestinians had suffered at the hands of Israel. "The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," he said. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years."
Younes, who is an Israeli Arab, had been training the orchestra of 11- to 13-year-olds for about three years and had taken them on previous trips, camp residents said. She said camp officials had closed the ensemble so they could take over its funds. "They want to destroy this group," she said. "It is a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?" The project was sponsored by Israeli businesswoman Shari Arison.
