The Palestine Festival of Literature (Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame is one of the participants in this festival.)

Welcome to the Palestine Festival of Literature: a traveling cultural roadshow touring across the West Bank from the 23rd to the 28th of May 2009.

Because of the difficulties Palestinians face under military occupation in traveling around their own country, the Festival will travel to its audiences. It will tour to Ramallah, to Jenin, to al-Khalil/Hebron and to Bethlehem. To celebrate its year as Cultural Capital of the Arab World, the festival will begin and end in Jerusalem.

And for those audiences that we can't reach, we're running several ways to connect with the festival: from author blogs to videos to twitter updates you can check them all out on our Connect page.



Here's some information about the government of Israel's attempt to shut the festival down on its first night...

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/05/israel-tries-to-shut-down-palestinian-literary-festival-but-the-word-about-occuption-still-gets-out.html



Here's the blog some of the authors participating in the festival are keeping about their experiences of the festival...

http://www.palfest.org/authorsblog.html



Update on the groups of people trying to get into Gaza to break the siege and bring humanitarian aid and to report on the conditions there...

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/05/most-volunteers-allowed-into-gaza-just-not-those-trying-to-return-home.html

Most volunteers allowed into Gaza, just not those trying to return home

Update from Phil (sent by phone):

    Looks like were getting in. At egypt emigration. Police let us thru checkpoints. Feeling good, though who of all our number didn't get okd? A Palestinian trying to go home, papers out of order. Who doesn't feel rage at such a scene.