Added by Toughpigs

Added by Toughpigs

Shara'a Simsim is the current Palestinian co-production of Sesame Street, the successor to Rechov Sumsum — Shara'a Simsim, the Israeli-Palestinian joint venture, and Hikayat Simsim, the Palestine only series.

The new series premiered in May 2007, and retains Kareem and Haneen from the earlier incarnations. A new cast member is actor Khaled Masou, who plays Salim, the Fix-It manager.

Gary Knell visited Ramallah for the first time in 2007, for the new series' third season's launch party.^[1]

The program is broadcast in Arabic and Hebrew on the 10-station Palestinian Maan TV network.

Being funded through USAID, the show is vulnerable to politics. In early 2012, local producers talked to the media about the show's pre-production being halted, as a result of the United States Congress cutting its funding.^[2] On January 24, Rep. Keith Ellison brought an Elmo toy to the House floor, when urging the US government to refund Shara'a Simsim. He pointed to the alternative for children's programming, like Tomorrow's Pioneers, which features a Mickey Mouse imitator that encourages anti-Semitism and violence. (YouTube) ^[3]

Dubbed Muppet segmentsEdit

Various Muppet segments from Sesame Street have been dubbed for Shara'a Simsim.

Professor Grover: Listen (known as الحواس الخمسة, The Five Senses) [1]

The Beach: Planning ahead (known as على البحر, The Sea) [2]

Sharing a Pillow (known as قصة ماهر) [3]

Cookie Monster Wants Prairie's Cookie (كعكي بدو كعك) [4]

Reading Together (no dubbed name) [5]

Song for Two (no dubbed name) [6]

What is Friend? (no dubbed name) [7]

Pretend Teeth [8]

Water in the desert (known as كابتن غروفر في الصحراء, Captain Grover in the Desert) [9]

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Animated segmentsEdit

Numerous animated spots have been produced expressly for Shara'a Simsim.

Ant and the drop of water (النملة وقطرة الماء) features an ant both scared and annoyed by drops of water hitting his head. Eventually, he get a flower to use as an umbrella; he falls into a puddle of water.

The Four Seasons (الفصول الأربعة) features a girl and her green teddy bear playing outside in the rain and the sun. [10]

الأشكال في كل مكان
In Beings Everywhere (الأشكال في كل مكان), an alien lands on a moon, discovers a large creature. A smaller creature comes up to the large one, and the two react favourable to each other. The guest alien realizes each is friendly, and meets both. [11]

الأشكال في كل مكان

Suleiman's assistant Guido (سليمان مساعد جدو الخاص) shows an elephant, chimpanzee, and dog working together to get onto a talking ark, before a flood. The title refers to Mount Suleiman, in Iran, a location where people have looked for remains of Noah's Ark. [12]

A segment features toy firefighters trying to rescue a cat (رجال الإطفاء بدهم يساعدو البسة). Video

A girl swims, plays at the beach, with flowers, stands in the rain with an umbrella, etc. [13]

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Dubbed animated segmentsEdit

نلعب سوا 2
A group invites a newcomer to play marbles
(EKA: Episode 3656)
[14]

A Chilly Night [15]

Arnold Rides His Chair (known as الغيوم, Clouds) [16]

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CrewEdit

• Daoud Kuttab, executive director

SourcesEdit

1. ↑ "President of Sesame Street comes to Palestine for launch of third season", Palestine News Network. April 27, 2007.
2. ↑ Damien Pearse, "Palestinian Sesame Street falls victim to US Congress", The Guardian, 7 January 2012.
3. ↑ Devin Henry, "Ellison brings Elmo to the House floor", Minnpost, January 24, 2012.

• "The Muppets Take Ramallah", The New York Times. October 2, 2009.