24 Hours for Palestine (Part 2): Sessions
Join over 100+ artists, theatre-makers, journalists, scholars, educators, and activists from across the world for 24 hours of non-stop performances, panels, dialogues, short films, personal stories, eye witness accounts, poetry, music, and more, in an act of global solidarity, as we raise our voices together for the liberation of Palestine.
Organized and co-produced by Golden Thread Productions and Art2Action, in partnership with The Arab American National Museum, Artists on the Frontline, Ashtar Theatre, Aviva Arts, Calling Up Justice, Decolonial Dharma, Donkeysaddle Projects, Dunya Productions, The Freedom Theatre, Meem Collective, New Arab American Theater Works, Noor Theatre, The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), and Zoukak Theatre Company.
No registration required. Livestream on the Golden Thread website.
SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 27, 2025
- Session 1 (Live)
10:00 AM Pacific | 1:00 PM Eastern | 8:00 PM Palestine
OPENING: HOMAGE TO REFAAT ALAREER FEATURING MOSAB ABU TOHA AND READINGS FROM GAZA WRITES BACK
The Artistic Directors of Golden Thread Productions and Art2Action, Sahar Assaf and Andrea Assaf, open the 24-hour livestream, with special guest, Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mosab Abu Toha. We honor the legacy of his close friend, Palestinian writer and poet Refaat Alareer, martyred on December 6, 2023, through readings from Gaza Writes Back, the short story anthology Refaat edited and published in 2013. The anthology amplifies the voices of young Palestinians who survived the 2008-09 Israeli assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead. Through short stories and testimonies, these writers bear witness to daily life under siege and bombardment, transforming personal memory into acts of resistance and resilience. Mosab will also offer reflections on Refaat’s life, his work, and the ongoing situation in Gaza.
Moderators: Sahar Assaf and Andrea Assaf
Special Guest: Mosab Abu Toha
Performers: Nusaybah Almenaii, Adam El-Sharkawi, Edward Hong, SEVAN, Hiba Sleiman - Session 2 (Hybrid)
11:15 AM Pacific | 2:15 PM Eastern | 9:15 PM Palestine
FILM SCREENING: SOLE SURVIVORS - BETWEEN STOLEN PRESENT AND FUTURE IN GAZA
The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) is pleased to introduce Sole Survivors, a Rābet by PIPD short documentary series co-produced with Bisan Owda in Gaza. We follow sole survivors of the genocide in Gaza, their struggles and physiological wounds after losing their entire families.
Presenter: Inès Abdel Razek (Co-Director, PIPD) - Session 3 (Hybrid)
12:00 PM Pacific | 3:00 PM Eastern | 10:00 PM Palestine
STAGED READING OF GITMO LAB BY HANNA EADY
Dunya Productions presents a staged reading of Hanna Eady’s new short play Gitmo Lab, set at Guantanamo Bay prison. With thematic and structural resonances to Dunya’s upcoming Fall mainstage production Almonds Blossom in Deir Yassin, this staged reading tackles new perspectives, exploring the theme of the “smuggling of life” through the voice of playwright and founding company member Hanna Eady. Performed as a cold reading (with no prior rehearsal) by Seattle actors Rayan Atallah, Yusef Elaameir, and Nabra Nelson.
Performers: Rayan Atallah, Yusef Elaameir, Nabra Nelson, and Ed Mast (stage directions). - Session 4 (Live)
1:00 PM Pacific | 4:00 PM Eastern | 11:00 PM Palestine
PALESTINIAN ARTISTS IN LEBANON
This conversation with five gifted actors, directors, playwrights, filmmakers, journalists and activists, all based in Beirut, is an opportunity to learn how Palestinian creators are contributing to the arts and culture of Lebanon, and how they are navigating the challenges they face in telling their stories.
Moderator: Catherine Coray (Arts Professor, NYU; Affiliate Producer, Noor Theatre)
Speakers/performers: Omar Ahmad, Naila Al Hares, Awad Awad, Aliya Khalidi, Rana Zeidan - Session 5 (Hybrid)
2:00 PM Pacific | 5:00 PM Eastern | 12:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
SEVERED: BECAUSE PALESTINE IS A DISABILITY JUSTICE ISSUE (DONKEYSADDLE PROJECTS)
Severed is a new short documentary that follows the story of Mohamad Saleh, a Palestinian teenager from Gaza who lost his leg at only 12 years old and has survived five Israeli military assaults. Mohamad’s story is both deeply personal, and a reflection of the thousands of people disabled by Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This screening is part of a larger grassroots campaign to center Palestinian voices, deepen understanding of the genocide through a disability justice lens, and build solidarity between Palestinians and the larger disability justice community.
Moderator: Kat Anaza (Outreach Associate, Donkeysaddle Projects)
Speakers/performers: Mohammed Mhawish, Dom Kelly - Session 6 (Live)
3:00 PM Pacific | 6:00 PM Eastern | 1:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
TENNIS IN NABLUS: READING & CONVERSATION WITH PLAYWRIGHT ISMAIL KHALIDI
Join us for a presentation of selected scenes from Tennis in Nablus, a “tragipoliticomedy” by acclaimed Palestinian-American playwright Ismail Khalidi. The play skillfully blends humor and pathos to explore the complexities of Palestinian history, human struggle, and political themes. Tennis in Nablus was nominated for a Suzi Bass Award and won the Kennedy Center Quest for Peace Award, and Khalidi’s work is celebrated for its sharp political insight and the way it uses comedy to illuminate the human condition. Following the performance, Khalidi will join the performers for a discussion of the play.
Moderators: Michael Malek Najjar & Hala Baki
Guest Speaker and Playwright: Ismail Khalidi
Director: Amal Bisharat
Actors: Mohamed Chakmakchi, Debórah Eliezer, Christopher Gerson, Patrick Harvey, Victoria Nassif, Addy Marsh, Faiz Siddique, Wiley Naman Strasser - Session 7 (Hybrid)
4:00 PM Pacific | 7:00 PM Eastern | 2:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
DO YOU SEE ME? A PHOTOPOEM IN THE HAUNTING VOICE OF STARVING CHILDREN IN GAZA
Do You See Me? is a searing 17-minute photopoem/video built from still, raw, unflinching images of starved children in Gaza — their hunger, their frailty, their state of mind and health — forcing us to confront why this is happening to them. Layered with the urgent, piercing voices of two children and carried by Oud and haunting music, the piece fuses testimony, poetry, and sound into an act of witness that refuses silence. It exposes starvation as a weapon of genocide and insists that, for a few minutes, we do not look away. In Gaza, parents never look away from their children — and neither should we. The screening of Do You See Me? will be followed by remarks from Dr. Ahmad Alfarra, head of the pediatric division at Al Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis, Gaza. Dr. Alfarra will speak about the cases of malnutrition and forced starvation he is witnessing, and deliver an urgent message for all who are listening.
Moderator: Mo Sati (Writer, Poet, Playwright, Digital Creator)
Speaker: Dr. Ahmad Al Farra (Pediatrician and Chair of the Children’s Department, Al Nasser Hospital, Gaza, Palestine) - Session 8 (Live)
5:00 PM Pacific | 8:00 PM Eastern | 3:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
A MOON WILL RISE FROM DARKNESS (PART 2): POETS FOR PALESTINE
Internationally acclaimed poets from Palestine, Lebanon, and the diaspora in the United States come together again, in our second year, for a special reading of poetry, with love and in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Poets for Palestine series celebrates the rising global movement toward liberation, even in the darkest hours. The session will include live readings by four poets, a video poem, and a discussion on the role of poetry in times of genocide. (Title inspired by Mahmoud Darwish.)
Moderators: Andrea Assaf & Rewa Zeinati
Speakers/Performers: Suheir Hammad, Hind Shoufani, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Rewa Zeinati, plus a video poem by Sahar Assaf - Session 9 (Pre-recorded)
6:00 PM Pacific | 9:00 PM Eastern | 4:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
DEBUNKING ZIONIST LIES AND MYTHS WITH CRAIG MOKHIBER AND VIJAY PRASHAD
This special session brings together historian and journalist Vijay Prashad and international human rights lawyer and activist Craig Mokhiber to debunk widely circulated Zionist myths and lies that distort history, normalize oppression, and manufacture consent for the ongoing genocide.
Moderator: Sahar Assaf
Speakers: Craig Mokhiber and Vijay Prashad - Session 10 (Live)
7:00 PM Pacific | 10:00 PM Eastern | 5:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
GOING BACK HOME… STORIES FROM MY DIARY
After 26 years away, I finally returned to my precious homeland — to my people, my family, and to the land that I love. I was stunned by the changes: endless checkpoints, hours-long detours for 15 minute drives, restrictions on Muslims praying at Al-Aqsa, among so many other dehumanizing things. I don’t typically turn away from injustice — I try to help, speak up, or at least document it. During my visit, I wrote (and took video/pictures) about several powerful moments in my diary — experiences that shook me, moved me, and reminded me why home, Falasteen, and the fight for its liberation is imperative in all we do.
Presenter: Liftawiya - Session 11 (Live)
8:00 PM Pacific | 11:00 PM Eastern | 6:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
PINKWASHING: ANTI COLONIAL QUEER TEACH-IN
A Palestinian guide on Zionist colonial propaganda and how to combat it globally.
Moderator: Anuradha Bhagwati (Founder of decolonial dharma)
Speaker: Mama Ganuush (Palestinian Trans Organizer, Artist, and Producer) - Session 12 (Live)
9:00 PM Pacific | 12:00 AM Eastern (Sun, Sep 28) | 7:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
MUSIC FOR LIBERATION
Join an extraordinary group of Palestinian musicians and allies for an hour of music in solidarity, and reflection on the role of music in movements for liberation.
Moderator: Andrea Assaf
Speakers/Performers: Clarissa Bitar, Tarik Kazaleh, Simon Moushabeck & NOLA Musicians for Palestine, Zafer Tawil, and more! - Session 13 (Pre-recorded)
10:00 PM Pacific | 1:00 AM Eastern (Sun, Sep 28) | 8:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
A TESTIMONY FROM GAZA
On September 19, 2025, Ola Abu Hasaballah, a psychologist, humanitarian worker, and a mother in Gaza, spoke with expressive arts therapist Soline Daccashe. Ola shares her experience of surviving a genocide, enduring displacement and unimaginable living conditions while continuing to fulfill her roles as a mother and humanitarian worker. Towards the end of the interview, she shares that the first thing she will do after the genocide is “to sleep, and then wake up and cry.”
Moderator: Soline Daccashe
Speaker: Ola Abu Hasaballah - Session 14 (Pre-recorded)
11:00 PM Pacific | 2:00 AM Eastern (Sun, Sep 28) | 9:00 AM Palestine (Sun, Sep 28)
FILM SCREENING: FREEDOM BREAKERS EPISODE 5 WITH HUSSAM SHAHEEN
Freedom has a story, and it demands to be told. Freedom Breakers, co-produced by Rābet at the Palestinian Institute for Public Diplomacy and Lama Ghosheh, showcase stories of pain, strength, steadfastness and defiance. The series explores the confines and meanings of freedom and imprisonment with recently freed Palestinian political prisoners. Their voices have been silenced for too long—it’s time to listen.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
- Session 15 (Pre-recorded)
12:00 AM Pacific | 3:00 AM Eastern | 10:00 AM Palestine
SUSTAINING THEATRE-MAKING IN TIMES OF GENOCIDE: A CONVERSATION WITH EMILE SABA AND MUSTAFA SHETA
This conversation brings together Palestinian theatre leaders Emile Saba, Artistic Director of ASHTAR Theatre, and Mustafa Sheta, General Manager of The Freedom Theatre, to reflect on the urgent realities of creating art under occupation and during an ongoing genocide. Despite all the atrocities and destruction, Emile and Mustafa are among many Palestinian artists using their artistic practice as a tool for resilience, healing, and resistance.
Moderators: Sahar Assaf and Andrea Assaf
Speakers: Mustafa Sheta (Freedom Theatre) & Emile Saba (ASHTAR Theatre) - Session 16 (Pre-recorded)
1:00 AM Pacific | 4:00 AM Eastern | 11:00 AM Palestine
FROM GAZA: AHMED MUIN OF GAZA BIRDS SINGING
On Friday, September 26, 2025, Soline Daccashe and Sahar Assaf sat down over Zoom with Ahmed Muin (also known as Abu Amsha) — a guitarist, composer, music teacher, and community builder from Gaza. The world first came to know his work through a viral video in which he transformed the sound of drones into music, a haunting testament to Palestinian creativity even under genocide. In this conversation, Ahmed spoke of being displaced fifteen times, of the children who followed him from camp to camp, of his enduring love for Gaza and his home, and of the unbreakable bond between art and life amid devastation. He closed with a powerful appeal for what he hopes the world will do in solidarity with his people.
Moderators: Soline Daccashe & Sahar Assaf
Speaker: Ahmed Muin - Session 17 (Pre-recorded)
2:00 AM Pacific | 5:00 AM Eastern | 12:00 PM Palestine
LETTERS FROM THE GROUND – ZOUKAK THEATRE COLLECTIVE
This session consists of a reading of letters – Letters from the Ground. In our region, we have lived under aggression and existential threats for decades. From Lebanon, from Zoukak Theatre, we launch a series of letters that emerge from the present moment. Each addresses a specific audience, sharing what deeply troubles us. Through these letters, we attempt to pierce the slogans that obscure reality, to breathe beneath the rubble, and dust off the grime of war and fabricated news. We send them as messages — like the smile of a Palestinian beneath the feet of soldiers.
Presenters: Zoukak Theatre Collective: Mohamad Hamdan (Mathematician, Theatre Practitioner, Trainer in Nonviolent Communication), Maya Zbib (Theatre Director, Performer, Writer, Trainer), Junaid Sarieddeen (Theatre Director, Actor, Dramaturg)
Note: To read the letters, visit https://livestay-zoukaktheatre.blogspot.com - Session 18 (Pre-recorded)
3:00 AM Pacific | 6:00 AM Eastern | 1:00 PM Palestine
ENVISIONING FUTURES, CREATING FREEDOM: ASHTAR THEATRE’S PERFORMING ARTS VILLAGE AND ACADEMY
ASHTAR Theatre joins 24 Hours for Palestine with a conversation from Ramallah on the current situation, the role of art in resistance and resilience, and the vision for and the development of a new Performing Arts Village and Academy in Birzeit, Palestine. The session will also premiere a short documentary from the August 2024 pilot program, where Palestinian youth explored an innovative curriculum integrating theatre and circus. Together, ASHTAR’s leaders and young artists share how creativity becomes a force for survival, resilience, solidarity, liberation, and how to support them.
Moderators: Marina Johnson
Speakers: Iman Aoun and Emile Saba - Session 19 (Pre-recorded)
4:00 AM Pacific | 7:00 AM Eastern | 2:00 PM Palestine
THE INSIDIOUSNESS OF LANGUAGE
This conversation explores the insidiousness of language in shaping narratives about Palestine. From media framing to political rhetoric, the words we use can obscure histories, dehumanize communities, and normalize injustice. Together, artists and writers will reflect on how language — whether unexamined or deliberately manipulated — can reinforce systems of power, including settler colonialism, and how it misleads through exaggeration, omission, and distortion. Rather than a legal or policy analysis, this discussion will center artistic and personal perspectives, drawing on storytelling, poetry, and lived experience. Panelists will consider how assumptions and “givens” are constructed, why we must actively unlearn them, and what is at stake in naming and framing. The conversation will highlight how artists, writers, and activists are reclaiming language to tell fuller, more truthful stories.
Moderator: Amal Bisharat (Co-founder / Artistic Director, Meem Collective)
Speakers: Farrah Hamzeh (Artist), Rolla Selbak (Filmmaker, Podcaster, Storyteller), and Priscilla Wathington (Poet & Human Rights Advocate) - Session 20 (Hybrid)
5:00 AM Pacific | 8:00 AM Eastern | 3:00 PM Palestine
NEW THEATRE WORKS FOR PALESTINE
This session features excerpts of new theatre works in a range of genres, by Palestinian and Palestinian American artists, as well as Jewish American allies who are making theatre in alignment with their activism for Palestinian liberation. Readings and video excerpts of new works will be followed by a conversation among the artists. Questions we’ll explore include: What is the relationship between theatre and activism in these times? How can humor, satire, and camp be creative tools in our movements for justice? What does embodied solidarity look like, and what is the significance of the body in liberation work? And more.
Moderator: Andrea Assaf
Artists: Danny Bryck, Fouad Dakwar, Shayna Howlett, Hiba Sleiman - Session 21 (Live)
6:00 AM Pacific | 9:00 AM Eastern | 4:00 PM Palestine
TO REMAIN HUMAN: WRITING THROUGH GENOCIDE WITH MAHRU ELAHI & MICAELA KAIBNI RAEN
We must recover our own well of resistance, for, as novelist Isabella Hammad states in Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative, “To remain human at this juncture is to remain in agony. Let us remain there: it is the more honest place from which to speak.” Using the voices of Palestinian writers and allies, we’ll consider how to craft visions of the past, present and future that de-center the West and embrace our enduring and persistent humanity. We’ll engage in close readings of model texts and make-meaning together, as well as have an opportunity to write based on several generative prompts suitable for any genre.
Facilitators: Mahru Elahi and Micaela Kaibni Raen - Session 22 (Live)
7:00 AM Pacific | 10:00 AM Eastern | 5:00 PM Palestine
CULTURE, RESISTANCE, AND BOYCOTT: WHY ART MATTERS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR PALESTINE
In times of genocide, culture is never neutral. While oppressive systems use art and cultural institutions to normalize injustice — a strategy known as cultural washing–artists have long turned to storytelling, music, theatre, and film as essential tools of resistance. This panel explores the importance of the cultural boycott within the broader BDS movement, the mechanisms of cultural washing, and the duty of artists and cultural workers to resist becoming complicit. It examines how art can uphold global solidarity and drive political change.
Moderator: Hane Alrustm
Speakers: Riham Barghouti, Amin El Gamal, and Melissa Nussbaum Freeman - Session 23 (Live)
8:00 AM Pacific | 11:00 AM Eastern | 6:00 PM Palestine
CULTURAL RESISTANCE & ARTISTIC INNOVATION – FRAGMENTS THEATRE
Artists share how they are combining modern technologies with traditional formats, to develop new forms of cultural resistance. Through virtual reality, visual arts, citizen journalism, and digital archiving, artists are forging new pathways that preserve heritage, defy censorship, and circumnavigate borders — sparking bold new visions rooted in personal storytelling.
Presenters: Fragments Theatre: Ahmed Tobasi, Khalil Al Batran, Lumineers, Mohammed Al Qudwa, Yasmin Shalaldeh, Zoe Lafferty, Artists On The Frontline Youth Associates & Rawand Arqawi and Naa’ma Taha - Session 24 (Hybrid)
9:00 AM Pacific | 12:00 PM Eastern | 7:00 PM Palestine
CLOSING REMARKS & A HEALING SESSION WITH ASHIRA DARWISH
We end 24 Hours for Palestine (Part 2): To Our Ultimate Freedom with a space for collective grounding and healing with Ashira Darwish, the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project in Palestine. Ashira is known for pioneering Sufi active meditation to help people suffering from continuous trauma, and is featured in the documentary Where the Olive Trees Weep. Rooted in Sufi, Indigenous, and Ancestral knowledge, Ashira’s practice weaves together movement and dance, breathwork, EFT, Reiki, Kundalini exercises, and Sufi Whirling. Through these embodied tools, Ashira invites us to release, restore, and reconnect in the face of the ongoing genocide.
Closing Remarks: Andrea Assaf and Sahar Assaf
Healing Session Facilitator: Ashira Darwish - END OF PROGRAM
10:00 AM Pacific | 1:00 PM Eastern | 8:00 PM Palestine