Saudi Theater Commission Praises Third Qemam International Festival for Mountain Performance Arts

CEO of the Theater and Performing Arts Commission Sultan Al-Bazie praised the efforts of participants. SPA
CEO of the Theater and Performing Arts Commission Sultan Al-Bazie praised the efforts of participants. SPA
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Saudi Theater Commission Praises Third Qemam International Festival for Mountain Performance Arts

CEO of the Theater and Performing Arts Commission Sultan Al-Bazie praised the efforts of participants. SPA
CEO of the Theater and Performing Arts Commission Sultan Al-Bazie praised the efforts of participants. SPA

Saudi Arabia’s Theater and Performing Arts Commission concluded the activities of the 3rd edition of the Qemam International Festival for Mountain Performance Arts, which were held from January 20 to 27 in eight archaeological sites in the Aseer region.
The festival witnessed numerous activities and events which portray the performance arts in mountainous regions in the Kingdom and the world, and shed light on their history through cultural seminars and enriching workshops to introduce the local community and tourists to the ancient mountain performance arts locally and internationally, and their effect on different cultures.
CEO of the Theater and Performing Arts Commission Sultan Al-Bazie praised the efforts of participants from inside and outside the Kingdom in making this important cultural event a success, saying the festival became better this year by allowing its guests to watch shows in several locations.
On the concluding day, a carnival march was held on Prince Sultan Road in Khamis Mushait, with the participation of 20 Saudi bands and 25 international bands, during which they performed 40 forms of mountainous arts while wearing the costumes of each type.
Forty-five Saudi and international performance groups participated in the daily activities of the festival in eight heritage villages.
The festival activities showcased the authentic heritage of local and international mountain performance arts to the local community and tourists, supported creating job opportunities for Saudi local talents from the region, and increased the popularity of Saudi performance arts locally and internationally.
The festival reflected the Theater and Performing Arts Commission's interest to promote international cultural exchange as one of the goals of the national strategy for culture, based on the Saudi Vision 2030.



UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.