Tuesday April 19th

Had drinks with Rafiq Husseini in the lovely garden at the Meridian Hotel last night. He confirmed what I'd heard earlier in the day: he's about to become the Chief of Staff for Abu Mazen. (Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.) Needless to say I am delighted a member of the Advisory Board has this position! He also had great ideas for potential Executive Producers.

Later on I had dinner with Majeda Al Batsh and Issa Freij last night at the Ambassador Hotel. Majeda is the Associate Producer for Comedy for Peace and an old friend. Her day is with Agence France Presse and she guided us in and out of Jenin last October and made sure we saw everyone we wanted in Ramallah and East Jerusalem. Issa is the cameraman who shot everything in October and will continue to shoot for us. He was one of the cameramen for "Trembling Before God", works regularly for 60 minutes and so on. Sami Abu-Dayyeh, the owner of the Ambassador, renewed his generous offers to provide rooms for Comedy for Peace when the performances occur.

Also had drinks with Chuck Hunter, Pamela Mills and Jennifer Larson from the US Consulate to discuss in more detail what we will do when the tour comes to Jerusalem. They had many ideas I'll be chasing and they are wonderfully supportive in multiple ways.