THOUSANDS of people attended a major festival in Bilad Al Qadeem last night to celebrate the Palestinian Intifada. The event marks the International Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day, commemorated worldwide on the last Friday of Ramadan, which falls today.

It was staged by the Ansar Al Hussain ma'atam on open ground in the middle of the village for the 24th consecutive year.

It included speeches by top Islamic scholar Shaikh Maitham Al Salman and operettas by Lebanese singers Bassam Shams and Ali Al Attar.

A play entitled The Beating Heart of The Resistance by Bahraini director Mohammed Al Saffar was also staged.

Nursery rhymes were performed by children in addition to poetry recitals by poets and brothers Abdulla and Hassan Al Qurmazi.

An exhibition featuring photos, portraits and paintings highlighting the Israeli occupation of Palestine was also featured.

Booths selling Islamic, documentary and education tapes, CDs, videocassettes, scarves, T-shirts and other merchandise were set up at the venue.

Meanwhile, people are also being invited to take part in a march in support of the Palestinians today at 4.30pm, starting from the Burgerland roundabout, on Budaiya Highway, to Daih village.

The event is organised by a group of political, religious and social societies under the theme 'No For Normalisation Of Relations With the Zionist Enemy'.

Islamic Olama'a Council chairman Sayed Majeed Al Meshaal will speak at the event.