For Your Viewing Pleasure

A joint Palestinian-Syrian drama series telling the life of Hamas bomb-maker Yehya Ayyash is poised to become the most popular show for tens of millions of Arab viewers during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday.

Ayyash, who was nicknamed "The Engineer" because of his expertise in preparing and handling different kinds of explosives, has since become a legend for Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Some have gone as far as comparing the Bir Zeit university graduate to Salah Eddin, the heroic Muslim warrior who drove the Crusaders out of Jerusalem. Ayyash, a resident of Rafat village in the northern West Bank, was responsible for a spate of suicide bombings that killed more than 100 Israelis between 1994 and 1996.

INTERESTING POINT OF NOTE - Actress Matia Nabwani appears as Ayyash's wife, Hiyam. Hiyam, who remarried a few months after her husband's death, expressed hope that the new drama would accurately reflect the reality and present her husband in a fair manner. Hiyam said she was concerned that the drama would present her without a hijab (head cover) or in an "unacceptable conduct" with her husband. "I still don't know how they will present me," she added. "If I appear without a hijab it will be a disaster and I will boycott the series."

posted by Avi G @ 03:03