Rabat: Signing of an agreement to train and educate Palestinian students from Jerusalem in audiovisual and cinema professions

SadaNews - The Jerusalem Agency for Urban Development, affiliated with the Jerusalem Committee under the presidency of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and the Higher Institute of Audiovisual Professions and Cinema in Rabat, signed a cooperation agreement on Wednesday, opening the institute's doors to Palestinian students from Jerusalem to continue their studies and training in the fields of the institution's specialization.

The agreement, signed by the director in charge of managing the agency, Mohamed Salem Al-Sharqawi, and the director of the institute, Abdel Samad Mtaï, in the presence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication - Communication Sector, Abdel Aziz Boujdaini, stipulates the allocation of seats for training and academic residencies for Palestinian students from Jerusalem in audiovisual and cinema professions.

Under this agreement, the institute commits to preparing and designing training programs and specialized workshops in cinema and television professions for the benefit of young people and Palestinian media workers from Jerusalem, within the framework of short and medium-term study residences, according to the standards adopted by the institution. Meanwhile, the agency is committed to mobilizing the necessary funding for these training programs and allocating scholarships for Palestinian students to continue their studies and complete their graduation projects as needed.

The preamble of the agreement notes that this initiative is part of the directives of the Moroccan monarch to the Jerusalem Agency to "continue implementing tangible projects with a sustainable impact on Palestinians in Jerusalem of all categories," within the context of "the steadfast positions of the Kingdom of Morocco in supporting the Palestinian cause and advocating for the holy city of Jerusalem."

The preamble also states that the two parties’ belief in the importance of "image and digital media" in supporting the resilience of the holy city, documenting its cultural memory, and conveying the Palestinian narrative to the world is what drives this cooperation, which "integrates academic audiovisual expertise with developmental field work," and provides practical support for efforts to protect the cultural and civilizational identity of the holy city, by investing the capabilities that "image, cinema, and audiovisual media offer in documenting the collective memory of the Palestinians."