...that the Director of the Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem will be visiting Cambridge February 27th through March 1st 2008. The Cambridge to Bethlehem: People-to-People project will host his visit. During his visit Abdelfattah Abusrour will meet with civic leaders and members of the Cambridge community who are interested in his work. If you want to learn more about Al-Rowwad, there will be presentations, dates to be announced. There will also be a fundraiser for the Al-Rowwad Cultural Center featuring Jimmy Tingle and Scott Ritter.

Abdelfattah Abusrour (Ashoka Fellow, Palestine) founded Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center in the Aida Refugee Camp (4000 people, 650 families) to combat violence among children, teaching them to be promoters of peace. Abed works with the children through programs offering sports, arts, and theatre to teach them alternate means of expression, acceptance of others and non-violent communication...

...The Saturday evening show was attended mostly by the local Palestinian and Arab community, including many children; the audience cheered and clapped throughout the performance, at images of resistance and the young actors' portrayal of Palestinian courage, strength and dedication to return...

...The play itself, "We are the Children of the Camps," is a 75-minute tale of dispossession and resistance...

...in the next moment they become the generation of the Intifada, courageously resisting the occupier, demonstrating and throwing stones until most of them are martyred...the actors queue up for a checkpoint manned by sadistic guards who steal a woman's glasses, beat a man trying to cross the checkpoint, and humiliate others, before their practices cause the death of a Palestinian baby...Four women then emerge, speaking as the sisters, wives, daughters and mothers of prisoners, exiles, martyrs and fighters, declaring "La salam" (No peace) until there is justice for the refugees, the prisoners and the martyred...

...The performance closes with a satirical commentary on the so-called "peace process"...

...their final performance, on Wednesday, June 22, sponsored by Al-Awda New York, brought Al-Rowwad to Brooklyn's Al-Noor School. The evening performance was greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd in the Islamic school's auditorium, who again contributed generously to Al-Rowwad's fundraising to expand their center in Aida camp...

...Muhammad Isa Halil Abeda commanded several Islamic Jihad terror cells and was involved in planning and funding terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, the army said. Abeda was arrested after being holed up for several hours in his house...

...The wanted man, Salem Abiaat, a Tanzim operative, was held for questioning by security forces. Abiaat was involved in activities against Israeli security forces and citizens.