Supporting Information

Tatarstan-Palestine cooperation

 

Tatarstan-Palestine cooperation can be characterized by cultural and religious contacts.

In late 19th - early 20th centuries, the historian, philologist, educator and public figure Panteleimon Krestovich Zhuze (Bandali Ibn Saliba Al-Jauzi, born in Jerusalem in 1870), who was also the author of the Complete Russian-Arabic Dictionary (1903), studies and then taught at Kazan Theologian Academy. Professors and students of Kazan Theologian Academy carried out academic missions to Palestine. In 1894, a local division of the Orthodox Christian Palestine Community was opened in Kazan.

Ambassadors of Palestine to Russia visited Tatarstan in 1998 and 2006. Gusman khazrat Iskhakov, the Chairman of the Tatarstan Muslim Religious Board, was to Palestine in 2008. Zaki Al-Ghul, the Mayor of Al-Quds (East Jerusalem), visited Kazan in June 2009.

Orthodox Christian pilgrims of the Kazan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church visit the Holy Land occasionally. The pilgrimage centre of Idel Hajj is working on organizing pilgrimage of Tatarstan Muslims to Palestine.

Students from Palestine attend Kazan universities.

Since 2006, Palestine directors have taken part in the International Muslim Film Festival Golden Minbar.