July, 1998:

* Special Events:

-The summer festival season kicked off with the Palestine International Festival, organized by the Popular Arts Center at Bir Zeit University’s old campus. The festival was placed under the sign of the 50th anniversary of the Nakba, with an opening ballet on the Nakba by the Funoon popular dance troop. The festival also featured well known Arab artists such as the United Arab Emirates Ahlam, Algeria’s Rachid Taha, and Tunisia’s company of classical Arabic music  Al -‘Azifat.  Algeria’s “Prince of Raï”, Cheb Mami, canceled his performance, after Israelis refused one of his band members entry into Palestine.

The festival also featured the UK contemporary dance troop Jeremy Jones, a number of local folklore troops, as well as others from Jordan, Chile, Cuba, and India.

- At the end of the moth, the Jerusalem Arabic Music Festival was held, featuring prominent Arab and oriental classical and contemporary music ensembles and artists, such as Tunisia’s Anwar Brahem and Lotfi Bouchnaq, Morocco’s Aicha Radwan and Adwar, the Farabi company from Palestine, and Jordan's Ayman Taysir  Company.
 

*  Visual Arts:

- Taysir Barakat opened his ninth personal exhibit at Jerusalem’s Wasiti gallery. The show featured new abstract works on wood and a few installations of wood and sand.

- Japanese graphic artist Tomoko Tonosaki held her first exhibit of prints and etchings at the Matall Gallery in Ramallah.
 

* Crafts:

- The Gaza Arts & Crafts Village was inaugurated in Gaza City. The building was constructed by young Palestinian architect Rachid Abdel-Hamid, using local materials and techniques (baked adobe bricks), it will house 4 workshops to be used by craftsmen: embroidery, copper, ceramics, and  carpet weaving. The goal is to preserve and modernize Palestinian crafts.
 

* Theater:

- In the framework of its program of celebrations of Bertolt Brecht’s centenary, the Ashtar  Theater company premiered in Jerusalem its production of “Meditations of a Fugitive”, adapted to the stage and directed by Sameh Hijazi, under the Arabic title “Boring”. The play features Edward Muallem and Walid AbdelSalam. The premiére was also accompanied by the opening of a photograph   exhibit of Brecht’s life and work.
 

* Literature:

- The new quarterly of the newly founded “House of Poetry”, Al-Shu'ara’ was published, featuring writings by young Palestinian poets, essays on normalization with Israel, and a special file on Ibrahim Touqan, featuring never published before correspondence to his sister Fadwa, and critical essays.

- A special evening dedicated to Ibrahim Touqan was held in Nablus, for the occasion of the renovation, and opening to the public of the Touqan home, where poets Ibrahim and Fadwa Touqan were born and raised. The evening featured  readings of Ibrahim Touqan works, as well as readings by young Nablus poets.

- The 50th anniversary of the death of poet AbdelRahim Mahmoud at the Shajara battle, was marked by a series of articles published in local literary journals, newspapers, and literary evenings throughout the country.
 

* Folklore:

- Palestinian Folklore Day was marked throughout Palestine by popular celebrations featuring street performances of popular dances and dabkes, popular poetry recitals, costume exhibits, craft fairs, cooking fairs, etc..