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Efforts are under way to develop the historic Okaz Souk in Taif into a major Arab cultural center, similar to Carthage in Tunisia and Jarash in Jordan. Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal recently inspected the traditional market in the resort city. Jareed Al-Mansouri, secretary-general of the market, said a committee has been formed to dig out and preserve the antiquities in the area. “We are working on this project and it will be completed shortly,” he said. The panel includes representatives from the Supreme Commission for Tourism, College of Tourism and Archaeology at King Saud University and the Department of Archaeology at Um Al-Qura University. “By reviving and developing this market we would like to project the heritage of Saudi Arabia. We also would like to compete with festivals held in Carthage and Jarash,” Mansouri told Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily. He said this year the area of the Okaz Souk festival would be expanded to cover the whole market. “It will also witness a number of new programs,” he added. In a previous statement, Prince Khaled said the traditional Okaz Souk provides an insight into the old Arab culture. “Arabs in the past had been depending on poetry, more than any other literary field to express their feelings. Poetry was the history of Arabs,” said Prince Khaled, who is also a poet. The governor said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan have made the Okaz Souk project a priority. “This shows our leadership’s deep concern toward Arab culture and heritage. They want the younger generation to be proud of their noble heritage while working for the future,” the governor said. Prince Khaled said: “We should not get rid of our past in order to build our future. We have to build on the foundation set by our predecessors. We should not underestimate what they have done.” He hoped that the Okaz Souk project would be completed as quickly as possible.

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Contributor: Anuradha Bhattacharjee
Published Date: April 7, 2008