In the 1800's we find the Mer family mostly in the little shtetles; Vashki and Pasvalys in what is now Panev?žys County, northern Lithuania. Some of the better known family members:
Gideon Mer (Hebrew: ????? ??, born 1894, died 22 March 1961) was an Israeli scientist whose work was mostly concerned with the eradication of malaria.
Biography
Gideon Mer was born to Aharon and Chana nee Berman in Pasvalys, Panev?žys County, northern Lithuania, then part of Imperial Russia. He studied medicine in France. He immigrated to Palestine in 1914. During World War I he was a medical officer in the Jewish Legion, a unit of the British Army, and served at Gallipoli, in Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. After the war he returned to Rosh Pina, a Jewish settlement in the north of Palestine, and his laboratory there eventually became a research station for the study of the bionomics of mosquitoes and methods of malaria control. With the opening of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem he joined the Department of Preventive Medicine.
During the Second World War Mer served in the British Forces with the rank of colonel and was malaria adviser to Middle East Command. After the war he joined the staff of the new school of medicine and became chief malaria adviser to the Ministry of Health in Israel, of which he was acting director in 1956 and 1957. As malaria was brought under control Professor Mer investigated the control of other insects, particularly the horse-fly, and the Rosh Pina research station undertook the testing of insecticides and the training of scientists.
His daughters;
Myia Ephron (Mer)
Birth:
1926
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Gideon Mer, Prof. and Zina Mer
Wife of Shmuel Ephron
Mother of Lihi Hanoch ( ex wife of Shalom Hanoch ?-1968 ???? ???? ????? ?????, ????? ?? ????? ?? ???-????? ?? ?'?????? ??. ????? ??? ?? ???, ???? ????, ????????, ?????, ??????, ???????? ?????? ???? ????? (???? ??? ?? ???? "????").); singer Ran Ephron and Meir Ephron
Sister of Erna Chamis; Zalman (Zami) Mer;
Erna Chamis (Mer)
Birth:
1930
Death:
1995 (65)
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Gideon Mer, Prof. and Zina Mer
Wife of Sliva Chamis
Mother of Juliano ?'?????? Mer - Chamis
Sister of Myia Ephron; Zalman (Zami) Mer;
Arna Mer-Khamis
Arna Mer-Khamis (1929 – February 1995)[1] was an Israeli Jewish political and human rights activist.
Biography
Arna Mer was born in 1929, in Rosh Pinna, at that time in Mandate Palestine.[1] Mer's father was Gideon Mer, a scientist who pioneered the study of malaria during the British Mandate.[2] Mer fought with the Palmach and Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Mer married Saliba Khamis, a Christian Arab and a prominent member of Maki and had three sons, Spartacus, Juliano (who adopted the name Juliano Mer-Khamis) and Abir.[3] Juliano, an actor, filmmaker and peace activist who was murdered in 2011, directed the film Arna's Children about Mer's work with the Freedom Theatre.
Political activism
Mer was an active member of the Communist party in Israel. During the First Intifada, as part of a project to support the education of children in the West Bank, she established the organization In the Defense of Children under Occupation/Care and Learning, and later established the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp.
Awards
In 1993, Mer was awarded the Right Livelihood Award. In her acceptance speech, Arna Mer-Khamis expressed her sympathy for Palestinian refugee children and their sufferings.[4]
References
1. a b "Arna Mer-Khamis". Arna-Active memorial site. June 2002. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
2. Jump up ^ Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis gunned down in Jenin Jerusalem Post, 4 April 2011
3. Jump up ^ Birenberg, Yoav (6 April 2011). "Juliano Mer's final curtain call". Ynetnews. "Many of the jolts and tribulations experienced by the three brothers stem from their childhood as the sons of an Arab intellectual father Saliba Khamis and a Jewish mother, Arna Mer, a relentless idealist who joined 'Maki' (the Israeli Communist Party)."
4. Jump up ^ http://www.rightlivelihood.org/mer_khamis_speech.html
External links
• Right Livelihood Award Acceptance Speech
• Documentary by Explore: "No Child is Born a Terrorist"
Her son; Juliano Mer-Khamis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juliano Mer-Khamis
Juliano Mer-Khamis, 2009
Born
Juliano Khamis
29 May 1958
Nazareth, Israel
Died
4 April 2011 (aged 52)
Jenin, West Bank
Cause of death
Assassination
Resting place
Kibbutz Ramot Menashe, Israel[1]
Occupation
Actor, director, activist
Years active
1984–2011
Spouse(s)
Jenny Nyman (?-2011; his death; 3 children)
Juliano Mer-Khamis (Hebrew: ?'?????? ??? ?'???; Arabic: ??????? ??? ????; born Juliano Khamis; 29 May 1958 – 4 April 2011)[2] was an Israeli/Palestinian actor, director, filmmaker, and political activist of Jewish and native Palestinian Greek Orthodox Christian parentage.[3] On 4 April 2011, he was assassinated by a masked gunman in the Palestinian city of Jenin, where he established the Freedom Theatre.
Biography
Juliano Khamis (later Mer-Khamis) was born in Nazareth, the son of Arna Mer-Khamis, an ex-Palmach combatant who had turned communist on experiencing disenchantment with Zionism after participating in operations to drive the bedouin out of the Negev,[4] and Saliba Khamis, an Israeli Arab of Greek Orthodox Palestinian Christian descent who was an intellectual as well as one of the leaders of the Israeli Communist Party in the 1950s. He had two brothers, Spartacus and Abir.[5] His maternal grandfather was Gideon Mer, a scientist who pioneered the study of malaria during the British Mandate.[6] His father abandoned their household when he was 10 years old. He attended school in Haifa.[4] In his youth, he adopted his maternal surname, Mer, and served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a combat soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade,[7] and was stationed in Jenin, where his job was to carry a weapons bag. If an old Arab woman or child was killed by accident, a weapon would be left on the corpse. On one occasion while his squad was engaged in firing practice, a shoulder missile aimed at a donkey missed, killing instead a 12 year old girl sitting astride it. Juliano left a compensatory load of explosives on the donkey in accordance with practice.[4] At one point he refused to obey his commanding officer's order to frisk and elderly man, punching the former instead, and spend several months in prison. His release was won by the direct intervention of Isser Harel, who was his mother's cousin.[4] In 1987 he spent a year in the Philippines, consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms and talking to monkeys. It was there that he felt, according to a later declaration, that he had shaken off all identities. On his return, he lived as a beachcomer in Tel Aviv, on olives, labneh and garlic, and protested against Israel's response to the first intifada by stripping himself and walking about covered in fake blood- Mishmish Or, an Israeli Jew of Turkish paternal and Egyptian maternal descent, picked him off the sidewalks and gave him a shelter. He eventually had a daughter, Milay, by her. In the meantime his mother Arna set up a children's centre to teach more than 1500 children in the Jenin camp, and asked her son to join her there in order to teach drama therapy.[4]
When the Al-Aqsa intifada broke out, two of his former students, Yusuf Sweitat and Nidal al-Jabali became suicide-bombers in October 2001 at Hadera. Two weeks earlier, a girl whom Sweitat had salvaged from a school classroom that had just been bombed by the IDF died while he carried her to hospital.[4] Hearing the news, Juliano returned to Jenin, a month after the Battle of Jenin had begun. His host was a former student,Ala’a Sabbagh, then aged 22, leader of Jenin's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and spent several months on patrol with men on Israel's hit list, and in hideouts, with Sabbagh and Zacharia Zubeidi, whose mother had be killed in April 2002 by an Israeli sniper who perhaps mistook her for her son Tata, who was also subsequently shot dead an hour later. He made a film of the period, Arna's Children, released in 2004.[4]
Aside from the theatre, he devoted himself to allaying everyday problems: driving pregnant women to Israeli hospitals, or Jenin's children to Haifa's beaches, or providing medicines and food.[4]
In a 2009 interview with Israel Army Radio, Mer-Khamis said of his background: "I am 100 percent Palestinian and 100 percent Jewish."[8]
Mer-Khamis was married to Jenny Nyman, a Finnish activist he met in Haifa in May 2006. They had a son, Jay, and were expecting the birth of twins at the time of his death.[9]
The theatre he founded thrives, under the direction of the Swedish Israeli director Jonathan Stanczyk.[4]
Film and acting career
Mer-Khamis's first film, The Little Drummer Girl, was an American thriller from 1984 directed by George Roy Hill and starring Diane Keaton, which dealt with the Israeli-Arab conflict. He starred in Avi Nesher's film, Za'am V'Tehilah (1985). Later he appeared in such Israeli films as 51 Bar (1985), Wedding in Galilee (1987), Tel Aviv Stories (1992), Zohar (1993), Under the Domim Tree (1994), and Overture 1812 (1997). He appeared in several films by Amos Gitai: Kedma, Esther (1986) and Kippur (2000).[10]
In 2002, Mer-Khamis was nominated for the Ophir award for Best Actor for his role in Kedma.[11] One of the last films in which he appeared was the Palestinian film Salt of this Sea (2008), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
He performed on stage with Beit Lessin Theater and Habima Theatre. In 2003, he produced and directed his first documentary film, Arna's Children, together with Danniel Danniel. The film is about his mother's work to establish a children's theatre group in Jenin during the 1980s. Seven years after the death of his mother, and following the battle in Jenin in 2002, Mer-Khamis returned to Jenin to meet and interview the children who participated in the theater, and found out that some became militants and were killed.[citation needed]
In 2006, following a wave of international support which was followed by his film, Mer-Khamis opened a community theater for children and adults in Jenin, called The Freedom Theatre.
The Freedom Theatre
Juliano Mer-Khamis lying in state at the al-Midan Theatre, Haifa. The Arabic script on his picture reads shaheed al-?uriya, which means "Martyr for Freedom."
In 2006, Mer-Khamis established the Freedom Theatre along with Zakaria Zubeidi, a former military leader of the Jenin Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Jonatan Stanczak, a Swedish-Israeli activist, and Dror Feiler, a Swedish-Israeli artist. The Freedom Theatre is a community theatre that provides opportunities for the children and youth of the Jenin Refugee Camp by developing skills, self-knowledge and confidence and using the creative process as a model for social change.[12]
Assassination
Mer-Khamis was shot by masked gunmen in leaving the theater he had founded in Jenin. He had just started to drive away in his Citroen, with his baby son Jay on his lap, when a masked gunman emerged from a nearby alley and asked him to stop. The baysitter with them advised him to drive on, but he stopped, and was shot five times.[13][4] He was rushed to the Jenin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after his arrival.[14] PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the killing, saying that "We cannot stand silent in the face of this ugly crime, it constitutes a grave violation that goes beyond all principles and human values and it contravenes with the customs and ethics of co-existence."[15]
In an interview in 2008, Juliano had foreseen the circumstances of his murder, predicting jokingly that he would be killed by a 'fucked-up Palestinian’ for ‘corrupting the youth of Islam’.[4] After being identified by the baby-sitter in three separate line-ups, Palestinian police charged Mujahed Qaniri, from Jenin's refugee camp, with having carried out the murder. There are varying accounts of Qamiri's affiliation, some describe him as a former member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who defected to Hamas, but a Hamas spokesman has denied any involvement, describing this as a purely criminal incident.[13][16]
On 19 April 2011, Adnan Dameery, spokesperson for the Palestinian Security Forces, reported DNA tests had exonerated a detained suspect and that the murderer was still at large.[17]
Filmography
Year
Film
Role
Notes
1984
The Little Drummer Girl
Julio
1985
Not Quite Paradise
Hassan (terrorist)
1985
Za'am V'Tehilah
1985
51 Bar
Thomas
1986
Esther
Haman
1987
Wedding in Galilee (Urs al-Jalil)
Officer
1989
Berlin-Yerushalaim
Menahme
1993
Sipurei Tel-Aviv (Tel Aviv Stories)
Jeno
1993
Zohar
Morris
1993
Deadly Heroes
Ramon
1994
Nothing to Lose
Antonio Valdez
1994
Under the Domim Tree (Etz Hadomim Tafus)
Ariel
1994
Yom Yom
Jules
1995
Night Terrors (film)
Mahmoud (as Juliano Mer)
1997
Overture 1812
2000
The Last Patrol
Jesus Carrero
2000
Kippur
The Captain
2002
Kedma
Moussa
2003
Arna's Children
Himself
Won FIPRESCI Prize
2004
God's Sandbox (Tahara)
Nagim
Nominated for Best Actor
2008
Salt of this Sea
Hiking leader
Palestinian submission for Oscar in "Best Foreign Language Film" category
2009
Hadutha Saghira
Israeli soldier
2010
Miral
Shaikh Saabah
Ancestry;
Uria Halevi Mer
Birth:
estimated between 1752 and 1812
Death:
October 11
Immediate Family:
Father of Naftali Halevi ????? Hirtz ??? Mehr ???? and Aharon Mer
Aharon Mer
Birth:
estimated between 1818 and 1878
Immediate Family:
Son of Uria Halevi Mer
Husband of Chana (Anna) Mer
Father of Gideon Mer, Prof. and Tina Mer
Brother of Naftali Halevi ????? Hirtz ??? Mehr ????
Naftali Halevi ????? Hirtz ??? Mehr ????
Birth:
October 11, 1817
Death:
1902 (85)
Petach-Tikva, Israel
Immediate Family:
Son of Uria Halevi Mer
Husband of ????? ??? and Tzipora Mer
Father of Moshe Mer; Pinchas ???? Meiri ?????; Gittle Meiri Mer; Reyzl Meiri Mer; Dvora Meiri Mer; Uri Meiri Mer; Idle Yehuda Meiri Mer and Yossef Meiri Mer « less
Brother of Aharon Mer
........................................................sons and grandson of
Naftali Halevi ????? Hirtz ??? Mehr
From: http://www.rishonim.org.il/petach-tikva/show_item.asp?levelId=15925&itemId=78&itemType=5001
Moshe Mer
Birth:
circa 1862
Panev?žys, Lithuania
Death:
circa 1948 (86)
Petah Tikva, Israel
Immediate Family:
Son of Naftali Halevi ????? Hirtz ??? Mehr ???? and Tzipora Mer
Husband of Buba Sura Mer
Father of Zundel Mer; Uri Mer; Salomon Mer; Shmuel Mer; Lina Rachel Mer and 5 others
Brother of Pinchas ???? Meiri ?????; Gittle Meiri Mer; Reyzl Meiri Mer; Dvora Meiri Mer; Uri Meiri Mer; Idle Yehuda Meiri Mer and Yossef Meiri Mer « l
Shmuel Mer
Birth:
circa 1888
Panev?žys, Lithuania
Death:
circa 1970 (82)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Immediate Family:
Son of Moshe Mer and Buba Sura Mer
Husband of Rachel Yeti Mer
Father of ????? ?????; ???? ???? and ???? ?????
Brother of Zundel Mer; Uri Mer; Salomon Mer; Lina Rachel Mer; Masha Mer; Aharon Mer; Hayman Mer; Rosa Mer and Yaacov Mer
--
Rachel Yeti Mer (Hertzikovich)
Birth:
estimated between 1854 and 1914
?????
Immediate Family:
Daughter of ? Hertzikovich and ???? Hertzikovich
Wife of Shmuel Mer
Mother of ????? ?????; ???? ???? and ???? ?????
Her father: 
her mother:
