'Romeo and Juliet' Reworked to Highlight Daily Struggle of Palestinians

Can love survive in a place devastated by hatred, conflicts and wars?

That is a question that Palestinian director Ali Abu Yaseen wants to explore with his play "Romeo and Juliet in Gaza," which has opened to audiences in the Gaza Strip.

The play is not set in Verona, Italy, like Shakespeare's original version -- but in a refugee camp in Gaza, which is home to about 1.3 million registered refugees. Yousef and Suha, the star-crossed lovers in the play, are from two feuding Palestinian political families, representing the deep rift between the ruling Hamas group and the Fatah party.

"Love is one of the most important things in life," director Abu Yaseen told ABC News. "In the end love fails in the play because of the struggle between the two families."

The conflict between Hamas and Fatah means that some families in Gaza might oppose a marriage between the daughter of a Fatah member and the son of a Hamas supporter.

That is the case for Yousef and Suha. They do not die at the end as in Shakespeare's tragedy. Instead, Yousef leaves Gaza by sea. He promises Suha that he will send her a ticket and a passport so they can be reunited again.

"Most young people in Gaza dream of leaving, so we had Romeo leave at the end," said Abu Yaseen. All the scenes in the play are inspired by real events in Gaza, he said.

A big theme in the play is the struggles facing young Gazans.

The youth unemployment rate in Gaza is 60 percent -- the highest in the Middle East, according to The World Bank. Since 2007, when the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza. This means that Gazans live with daily electricity cuts and limited access to food, water and gas. It's also virtually impossible for them to leave the Strip.

"Gaza is filled with talented people, but we don't have the simplest things that most citizens have access to," said Abu Yaseen. "We have a whole generation that was raised knowing that electricity is only available for about six hours per day. It is normal that a person can go to the movie theater or travel or that a university graduate can find a job. But not in Gaza."

The high youth unemployment rate is illustrated in a scene where young men are sitting in a coffee shop with nothing else to do but play cards and chat.

Another theme is that Palestinians are scattered around the world. One character, an old man, has waited for 40 years for the return of the woman he loves. She fled Gaza following the 1967 War, which in real life forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinian to flee.

"I hear real stories that no one would believe are true," said Abu Yaseen. "Sometimes I write something based on what I hear but then I have to erase it because no one would believe it."

Abu Yaseen has lived in Gaza all his life. Before the blockade he used to be able to travel and participate in national and international festivals. Now, he gets invitations but misses all the events because of the travel restrictions. That means that his audience is now limited to people who live in Gaza.

"It is like someone who has a very nice voice but is singing only for his wife and children in their living room," he said. "Imagine that you are only writing for your family and friends."

In Gaza, it is free to see the play and many people from different age groups and backgrounds have been in the audience at Gaza's Al-Mishal theater, he said. More performances are coming. Gaza does not offer many attractions, and Abu Yaseen said that theater is one of the few and important ones.

"People in Gaza are just sitting in their homes," he said. "Theater gives us hope. Many people told me that they started to love Gaza and love life again after watching the play. They said 'it made us feel like we are humans.'"