Shara'a Simsim is the current Palestinian co-production of Sesame Street, the successor to Rechov Sumsum โ 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.[3]
Dubbed Muppet segments
Various Muppet segments from Sesame Street have been dubbed for Shara'a Simsim.
Animated segments
Numerous animated spots have been produced expressly for Shara'a Simsim.
Dubbed animated segments
Crew
- Daoud Kuttab, executive director
Sources
- โ "President of Sesame Street comes to Palestine for launch of third season", Palestine News Network. April 27, 2007.
- โ Damien Pearse, "Palestinian Sesame Street falls victim to US Congress", The Guardian, 7 January 2012.
- โ Devin Henry, "Ellison brings Elmo to the House floor", Minnpost, January 24, 2012.
- "The Muppets Take Ramallah", The New York Times. October 2, 2009.