Under the sponsorship of the Palestinian Ministry of Youth and Sport and through an initiative by Sharek Youth Forum, An-Najah University hosted the National Festival for the Honoring of Palestinian Volunteers for the year 2011 which was organized by the National Committee for the Honoring of Palestinian Volunteers.

The Festival was organized in cooperation with the United Nations Volunteers Program and in partnership with more than 400 local Palestinian institutions under the title “Let us Celebrate Palestine, Let us Start the Journey of Freedom, by the Will and Power of Youth we Shall Lighten the Future and Protect our Heritage”.

Attendees to the event included His Excellency Dr. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Brigadier Jibrin Al-Bakri, Governor of Nablus, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, President of An-Najah University, Bader Zama’reh, Sharek Executive Director, in addition to members of the National Committee, members of the judging committee, volunteers and media.

Zama’reh first welcomed the guests to the Festival and thanked them for their interest to attend the event.

In his speech, Dr. Fayyad valued the role of Sharek Forum in organizing this annual event and emphasized the importance of voluntary work in building the society. He also suggested creatingan an award under the title "Hayder Abdel Shafi Award for Voluntary Work" in honor of his life which he dedicated to voluntary work in the Palestinian Red Crescent since 1969 until his death in 2007. Abdel Shafi was a Palestinian physician, community and political leader who was the head of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference of 1991.

Prof. Hamdallah stressed in his speech the importance of voluntary work and pointed out that the University has offered the Community Service course to its students and since its introduction more than 3000 students join it every semester. The course aims to instill the values of attachment and sense of belonging to the land and the society in the students. He also said that the University considers voluntary work as one of its main priorities and among its primary messages. Moreover, Prof. Hamdallah valued Dr. Fayyad’s participation in the Festival and interest in such activities.

Mr. Waleed Atatrah delivered a speech on behalf of the National Committee in which he explained that voluntary work leads to social connections and reinforces team work and dedication to the different issues in the society. He also said that the Festival was organized to honor those who dedicated their time and effort to serve the Palestinian society through creative ideas and initiatives that contributed to the advancement of the society.

Nasfat Al-Khafash, Member in the National Committee, said the Festival honors distinguished volunteers and that there are a number of criteria that the judges use to judge who deserves to be honored. In order to be considered a distinguished volunteer a person must spend more than three years in voluntary work, to have carried out a significant voluntary work in the society whether in the field of intellect, culture, public services…etc, to document this work through official papers, the voluntary work must be out of the person’s own will and outside his/her normal working hours, and finally the voluntary work must achieve a documented success story before it is approved by the Committee.

At the conclusion of the Festival the pioneers of voluntary work were honored by Dr. Fayyad, Prof. Hamdallah, Governor Al-Bakri, and Mr. Zama’reh. Samiha Khalil Award was awarded to Mrs. Hayat Al-Bath, Tawfeeq Ziyad Award was granted to Muharram Al-Bargouthi, Dr. Fathi Arafat Award was awarded to Dr. Muhammad Al-Tafakji, Maha Nassar Award was granted to Mahmoud Talab Nammoura, Faisal Al-Husaini Award was granted to Mahera Al-Dajani, Hatem Anabtawi Award granted to Khaled Jaber, and finally Waheed Hamdallah Award which was granted to Areen Hawwari.

The distinguished volunteers were also honored including Ibrahim Mubarak, Hana’ Shala’tah, Mu’ath Al-Talla’, Alaa’ Tmaizi, Shareef Shahrour, Maha Staiti, Salem Jalayta and Jihan Mansour.