Celebrating Palestine

Saturday, 28 February 2009
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Trade Route Mall, Lenasia

Tickets cost R1,000 per person.

The event has three basic aims:

(1) Raising funds for the Al Aqsa Foundation's Orphans Program, allowing people to make a direct contribution to the welfare of some Palestinians through the purchase of a ticket to this event.

(2) Reaching beyond the political rhetoric: Celebrating Palestinian culture as a means of promoting the image of Palestinians as a people with a rich history and traditions that need to be preserved.

(3) Creating an understanding amongst South Africans that culture is something that needs to be preserved and protected. Keeping in mind the strategy of the colonial and Apartheid regimes to suppress the culture of the people as a means of controlling them, we would like to explore this issue from a humanistic point of view.


This banquet is basically being organized by a small, independent group of students. Some of them are members of the WITS branch of the Palestine Solidarity Committee,but this banquet is independent of this organization. They felt that they wanted to take a different and unique approach to creating awareness among South Africans about the situation in Palestine.

They felt that the political debate is often heard, and has created much dissent among South Africans, but rarely is the cultural value of Palestine truly appreciated. As a result, they wanted to create an evening in which people could attend and enjoy and feel uplifted and also more informed about the richness of Palestinian culture, and perhaps creating some sort of personal connection in this way.

The key-note speaker is Dr Virginia Tilley and the second speaker is Mu'Taz Jankot ,a filmmaker from Jordan who will be speaking about making films in Palestine and its reception in the rest of the Middle East and the world.For entertainment, there will be having some local comedians, including Riaad Moosa and Halaal Bilal amonst others.

There will be an exhibition of South African and Palestinian political cartoons, as well as an exhibit of Palestinian clothing and pictures of Palestinian life, architecture and scenery.
In addition, a traditional Palestinian dinner will be served.

For more information, please contact Yumna on 072 215 1668