WEST BANK: Palestinian artists stage concert in Ramallah to highlight Palestinian rights

Record ID: 563192

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian artists stage concert in Ramallah to highlight Palestinian rights
  • Date: 2nd November 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GREEK ORTHODOX BISHOP ATALLAH HANNA SAYING: "We are a people that has culture, art, creativity and a message. We have many of the attributes of humanism and civilisation. Tonight's event is an event that we bless and support and we encourage the people that put this together. We believe that young people are the hope of the future, and we must therefore support them in every nationalist work and effort they work on."
  • Embargoed: 17th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA2RIJ4JHOHCW4TR3YGA7PWMQLJ
  • Story Text: Palestinian artists stage concert in Ramallah to highlight Palestinian rights.
    Palestinians flocked to an open air concert organised to promote Palestinian rights on Wednesday (October 31).
    The concert was organised by 'Another Voice', a group set up to draw attention to the rights of the Palestinians.
    International and local peace activists as well as Palestinians from the Jerusalem and Ramallah area were among about 1,000 people to attend the event.
    Natasha Aruri, spokeswoman for 'Another Voice', said it was important to recognise that basic Palestinian rights were non-negotiable.
    Greek Orthodox Bishop Atallah Hanna told the concert goers that peace could not be achieved without preserving the rights of the Palestinian people.
    "We cannot accept a peace without adhering to all the basic rights (of the Palestinians) foremost of which is the full return of Jerusalem to the Arabs so that it can be a spiritual and national capital for our independent Palestinian state," he said.
    Bishop Atallah Hanna said the concert bore witness to Palestinians as "culture, art, creativity and a message."
    "We believe that young people are the hope of the future, and we must therefore support them in every nationalist work and effort they work on," he added.
    The performers included Homayoun, fronted by singer Sana Musa, who enchanted the audience with ethnic Palestinian songs.
    As a contrast, Palestinian Rap group DAM had the audience dancing and clapping along to their music.
    'Another Voice' was set up as an alternative to 'One Voice', the group behind recently cancelled twin peace concerts in Tel Aviv and Jericho.
    The 'One Voice' concerts scheduled for October 18 were cancelled amid recriminations from Palestinians who felt the group's aims undermined Palestinian rights.
    With funding from IBM and the Ford Foundation and backing from British chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Muhammad Ali, 'One Voice' had collected nearly 600,000 signatures for a mandate backing a negotiated two-state solution.
    But some Palestinians objected to the 'One Voice' concert because they saw it as yet another attempt to promote a peace that fails to address the basis issues driving the conflict.
    Palestinian rap act DAM had backed out of the 'One Voice' concert, saying that the organisers were treating both sides to the conflict as equal and were not highlighting that Palestinians are under Israeli occupation.
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