Summary Art, theater and film festivals once held in Ramallah and elsewhere in the West Bank came to a halt after the October 2023 Hamas-Israel war.
(Web Desk) - Ramallah’s Contemporary Arts Festival, one of the largest in the West Bank, started on Monday for the first time since the war in Gaza shut down most cultural activities in the territory.
Art, theater and film festivals once held in Ramallah and elsewhere in the West Bank came to a halt after the October 2023 Hamas-Israel war.
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“Culture and art historically play an important and distinctive role in our struggle… because they reflect our identity and reinforce our role as a Palestinian society,” Khaled Aliyan, the festival’s director, tells AFP.
Aliyan says the festival, previously limited to contemporary dance, was expanded to include Palestinian artists from all fields.
Aliyan regrets that the West Bank’s cultural life experienced “a forced two-year suspension due to the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.”
