'Falastin! In the Valley’ brings Palestinian culture and awareness to Leavenworth

LEAVENWORTH—Local residents and Palestinian Americans Anour Esa and Abde Elshafei are inviting the community to ‘Falastin! In the Valley: Palestinian Cultural Night and Gaza Benefit Event,’ an evening on November 23 dedicated to celebrating Palestinian culture, raising awareness, and supporting those affected by the crisis in Gaza.

“There are other Palestinians that live here in Leavenworth, and many in the Wenatchee Valley. And I don't know that a lot of people know that, and many of us have been directly impacted by the genocide in Gaza, and not only that, but by the occupation of Palestine, you know, our families are impacted,” said Elshafei.

The benefit, held at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort’s Chapel Theater, will feature authentic Palestinian cuisine prepared by Chef Micah Windham in collaboration with Esa and Elshafei. 

Attendees will also get to experience live traditional Palestinian music in addition to music from the Arab world. The Seattle-based Jafra Dabke Team will perform a traditional Palestinian dance called dabke, and will lead a group dance. 

“There’s so much darkness and hate in the world right now,” said Esa. “One of the things that I love about being Palestinian is we love life, and we live colorfully and passionately, filled with good food, good music, dance….I think what we wanted to do was really bring some of that joy and light and life to Leavenworth through the lens of Palestine and also, in the same stroke, bring awareness too,” said Esa.

While the event is free to attend, the organizers will raise money for United Palestinian Appeal, a nonprofit organization that supports Palestinians through emergency relief and programs in health, education, community, and economic development. The evening will also include remarks by the organization and local residents.

“What we've found across the Palestinian American community is we have to take space. We have to celebrate. We have to continue to live life and be ourselves, while also holding people accountable and obviously raising money and supporting whatever the ways we can,” said Esa.

The idea for the event sparked over the summer, when Esa, a recent Leavenworth transplant, recognized Elshafei by his keffiyeh at a Ski Hill concert.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, there's another Palestinian American here’” said Esa. “I went from feeling just a sense of isolation and guilt, to this wonderful feeling of connectedness and someone that understands what it's been like, and you don't have to explain it.”

The two became fast friends, bonding over shared interests and their Palestinian heritage. For the last year,  Elshafei, who has lived in Leavenworth for a decade, had been working with other Palestinians in Wenatchee and even traveled to Olympia to speak with state officials. After meeting Esa, Elshafei saw an opportunity to bring his advocacy closer to home.

“The genocide has been happening for over 400 days now, and it has been my true focus and passion…To be able to focus that into this event has been really rewarding, but it's also brought me some solace…It's brought me just a little bit of feeling of peace and that I'm doing something,” said Elshafei.

The Israel-Hamas War began on Oct. 7, 2023, after a Hama-led attack in southern Israel killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted over 200 others. The health ministry in Gaza estimates at least 43,736 Palestinians have been killed since then. On Nov. 14, a United Nations Special Committee released a report that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide. Separately, a Human Rights Watch NGO released a 154-page report stating that the “widespread and systematic” forced displacement of 1.9 million people in Gaza amounted to war crimes, and met the definition of ethnic cleansing.

“There’s a Mahmoud Darwish quote that says, ‘We love life if we find a way to it,’ and we're finding a way to it,” said Esa. 

The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 23 in the Chapel Theater at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media