By Sam Bahour

Some Palestinians refuse to just sit still and accept theirfate as a permanently, militarily occupied people. One would think by now thatPalestinians would have received the message loud and clear – the worldcouldn’t care less about their fate. But no, these Palestinians just refuse tosit still. They continue to defy their reality and can be seen across the Holy Land – jumping, climbing, swinging, falling, tripping, singing,twirling, juggling, cycling, tight roping, and the like. Their nerve! To thinkthey can attempt to live a normal life when the powers that be are spendingbillions, literally, to cause a collapse of Palestinian society.

And who is it exactly I speak of? Palestinian clowns. No,I’m not taking a swing at the political leadership, at least not here. I’mtalking about the real thing: circus clowns, like in clowns that make you laughand make you forget that the boot of occupation is pressing on your neck.

I can understand your confusion. Clowns and circus do notusually appear in the same sentence with Palestine.You are probably much more attuned to how Palestinians have been labeled overthe years by some Israelis and their marionettes – everything from terrorists, crocodiles,‘beasts walking on two legs,’ grasshoppers, cockroaches, slaves, ‘a communityof woodcutters and waiters,’ the ‘penniless population,’ ‘not worth a Jewishfingernail,’ all the way to the most recent classification of being an ‘inventedpeople.’

As many are bent on dehumanizing Palestinians,systematically and with contempt, others are mending the wounds of a people whohave been purposely stripped of their well-being in one of the world’s mostunjust chapters of history. One group tending to that process of mending thedeep wounds that 44 years of military occupation continue to inflict is thePalestinian Circus School (PCS), based in Birzeit, Palestine.

Yes, you read correctly. There is a Palestinian Circus Schoolin Palestine! However, as I havelearned while working closely with this professional team of circus artists,this is not what we all think of when we first think of circus. There are noelephants here, only Palestinian children engaged in a form of art andexpression that uses their body to tell a story which can make audiences laugh,cry, or both.

Although the school recently moved from Ramallah to itsnewly donated headquarters in Birzeit (thanks to Dr. Hanna Nasir), itsactivities are spread across the West Bank, and Gazawill be added as soon as possible. The School operates local circus clubs and givesperformances in various cities, villages and refugee camps.

The Palestinian Circus School is a non-profit,non-governmental organization established in 2006 and registered with thePalestinian Authority since February 2007. You can read more and view somevideos of their work at: www.palcircus.ps.

My consulting firm, which mainly serves the private sector, wascommissioned by a unique donor, the Drosos Foundation,to assist the Palestinian Circus School in developing a five-yearbusiness plan which we successfully completed. Drosos has a rock solid motto ofbeing ‘committed to enabling disadvantaged people to live a life of dignity.’ Itis rare I would choose to write about one of my work assignments; however, whatI witnessed over several months sparked an interest that I want to share. Ialso want to appeal to you to support their efforts. Likewise, Palestine isflooded with donor agencies, and most want to drive Palestinians’ development agenda,so when I worked with a funding agency that was sincere about supportingPalestinians by providing resources, but didn’t stand in the way of indigenousplanning, I felt this was one of those cases that is the exception and also deservesto be shared.

Contemporary circus (or nouveau cirque as it wasoriginally known in French-speaking countries) is a genre of performing artdeveloped in the late 20th century, in which a story or theme is conveyedthrough traditional circus skills. It may all look like a game to the untrainedeye, but this is serious business. At its heart, this style of circus is asocietal change agent. The Circus Schoolteaches young Palestinians the circus pedagogy to stimulate and develop theirphysical, mental, artistic, emotional, social and cognitive abilities. Thecircus then employs these skills in bringing smiles to the faces of childrenthroughout Palestine, especially inmarginalized areas.

If you spend any time in any part of Palestine, or even inPalestinian refugee communities outside of Palestine, you will quickly noticethat the ultimate weight of this conflict is falling on the shoulders of ouryoungsters—shoulders that should never have to carry the weight of a militaryoccupation! These young minds continue to be systematically damaged, butsociety is not standing still.

The Palestinian Circus School puts smiles on children’sfaces as well as using the platform of circus to link to a global circus artscommunity. Circus schools and troupes worldwide are acting in solidarity withPalestinians by exchanging trainers, performances and experiences. It’s seriousbusiness with serious results. Maybe that’s why, last year, Israeli authoritiesdenied entry to Mr. Ivan Prado, the most famous clown in Spain,who was coming to perform to Palestinian audiences.

Robert Sugarman, author of The Many Worlds of Circus,described the impact of circus best when he wrote, “By turning you upside down,we teach you to stand on your own two feet. By dropping objects we teach you tocatch them. By having you walk all over someone, we teach you to take care ofthem. By having you clown around, we teach you to take yourself seriously.” Thechildren of Palestine have hadtheir lives turned upside down. Help us bring a smile to their faces and buildconfidence in their futures to make their lives worth living.

So, as you prepare to bring in a new year, I appeal for yourgenerous support to the Palestinian Circus School in any way you can. You willnot be disappointed. There are three places donations can be made:

- IndieGoGo Campaign to raise $25,000 to kick offfundraising for erecting a movable training hanger, which will be locatedadjacent to the newly donated headquarters. This new addition will house thehigh circus equipment, which are now placed outside in the cold under the opensky. This campaign just started and will run through February 20, 2012 at: http://igg.me/p/52303.

- Alternatively, donations to the Palestinian Circus Schoolin the U.S. canbe made through The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA is atax-exempt 501(c) 3 organization, so your gift is tax-deductible) www.mecaforpeace.org/partners/palestinian-circus-school.

- Of course, direct donations and/or student scholarships canbe made via the School’s website at home.palcircus.ps/en/1/1/3.

Happy Holidays.

- Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessdevelopment consultant from Youngstown,Ohio living in thePalestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is co-author of  HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine andPalestinians (1994) and may be reached at sbahour@palnet.com. Disclosure:Sam’s firm, www.aim.ps, provides consulting services to PCS.