West Bank arts festival kicks off for first time since Gaza war
Ramallah’s Contemporary Arts Festival, one of the largest in the West Bank, started on July 6 for the first time since the war in Gaza shut down most cultural activities in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Art, theater and film festivals once held in Ramallah and elsewhere in the West Bank came to a halt after October 2023, amid escalating violence, Israeli military raids and settler attacks following the outbreak of the Gaza war.
“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, told AFP.
Aliyan said the festival, previously limited to contemporary dance, was expanded to include Palestinian artists from all fields.
