"The Arab Culture Association concluded on Friday evening the Haifa Book Fair in its fifth season after nine days filled with activities ranging from dialogues, artistic evenings, and children's activities. This marked the end of the Association's activities at the Arab Cultural Center in Haifa before its renovation begins at the beginning of next month.

The fair, which started last Thursday, September 14, featured thousands of titles and publications ranging from political studies, philosophy, literature, children's and young adult stories, and included multiple publishers such as the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, the Palestinian Studies Foundation, the "Madar" Center, "Masarat" and others in the studies section, in addition to a large section of children's and young adult books, a corner for Arabic literature and translated literature, and titles that arrived for the first time in the Palestinian interior.

Mustafa Rinawi, the director of the Arab Culture Association, considered the fair a success this year in increasing the number of audiences, book titles, and publishers. He confirmed that "the development witnessed by the fair in its fifth season was reflected in several areas, most notably the launch of the ‘Mai Salon’ literary project and the publication of two booklets following processes led by the Association. It launched the ‘Stories to Break the Curse’ collection produced through the ‘Plot’ literary writing course presented by the Association with the writer Eyad Barghouti, and also published the ‘Fantasy’ booklet which included the winning stories in the short story competition, thus offering new opportunities in the act of book writing for the local audience and the start of productive projects under development."

Rinawi emphasized that the fair "enhanced its growing audience base in its fifth season, evolving into a cultural festival and a liberating knowledge space that attracts interested people, writers, and researchers in the Palestinian interior, offering them a platform for discussion, thought, and vision on numerous literary, cultural, and research books and topics, through a program of dialogues and diverse activities."

The Association's director explained that this fair ends with a farewell to the old building of the Arab Cultural Center, as renovation works will begin at the end of this year. The center will return to operation and host more extensive and developed cultural events and projects in the heart of Haifa city at the beginning of 2025.

The fair witnessed a rich program of activities. It opened on Thursday with a dialogue seminar for the launch of the book "The New Right in Israel" in a discussion between Dr. Haneeda Ghanem, the book's editor and the general director of Madar Center, and researcher Dr. Amir Fakhoury, presenting a broad and deep reading of the book issued by Madar – the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies, discussing the rise of the new right in Israel in a historical and sociological context.

The dialogue on the second day of the fair, Friday, September 15, addressed questions about cultural work in the Palestinian interior, hosting poet Ali Mawasi, artist Bashar Murqus, translator and coordinator of the Jaffa Festival Kifah Abdul Halim, and moderated by colleague Mu'tasim Zidan, under the title "Culture in the Dragon's Mouth", showcasing the policies of cultural work and the impact of apartheid policies on cultural work in Palestine.

On the third day of the fair, Saturday, September 16, the Association celebrated the announcement of the results of the short story competition and the launch of the "Fantasy" booklet, which included the winning stories, in the presence of jury members, writers Rafat Amneh Jamal, Ferdous Habib Allah, and Ghassan Nadaf.

Also, the Association celebrated on Sunday, September 17, the fourth day of the fair, by opening the Mai Cultural Salon and launching the "Stories to Break the Curse" collection, a product of the "Plot" literary writing course with writer Eyad Barghouti, with the participation of course graduates sharing excerpts of their stories published in the collection.

On Tuesday, September 19, the dialogue "Say, Oh Bird" discussed mythology and folk tales in Palestinian children's literature, hosting early childhood and children's literature specialist Mona Sarouji, mythology and fantasy researcher and visual artist Ahmad Nabil, and researcher Dr. Hanan Musa Hazzan.

On Wednesday, September 20, the Association offered a children's workshop titled "What's the Story? Drama for Children Inspired by the World of Tales," with group director in theater and drama, Liqa Sharaf.

The last dialogue in the fair's program on Thursday, September 21, discussed the book "Archives in Israel and the Israeli Historical Narrative and the Nakba" with researcher Dr. Mahmoud Muhareb and writer and journalist Antoine Shalhat, talking about the importance of archives and their use in political and historical studies, and what these archives reveal.

The fair concluded with a celebratory event featuring an open platform with various segments in music, poetry, and literature."