Palestine Gala Dinner

The dinner will celebrate Palestinian culture as well educate guests about the region that is geographically and politically in the middle of the events of the Arab Spring.

The event will benefit Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a network of Americans supporting institutions in Bethlehem that promote the health, educational, cultural and spiritual development of the region’s people.

The dinner features a three-course meal of Middle Eastern food including pita and hummus, stuffed grape leaves, spinach pie and baklava. Entertainment includes music on the oud, a stringed instrument used throughout the Mediterranean region, and traditional dabkeh dancing by St. Olaf’s Veselica International Dance Ensemble.

Keynote speaker is Middle East expert Prof. Jennifer Lowenstein, who will discuss developments in the Middle East and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian’s ancestral land.