The DC-Dabkeh Troupe, which performs traditional Middle Eastern folk dances, performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 10, in Bates College’s Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The public is invited to attend at no cost. The troupe was invited by the Bates organization Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine, and sponsors of the event include the Olin Arts Center, the Multicultural Center, the music department and Mushahada, an organization of Muslim students and students interested in the Islam faith. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

Betsy Nelson, a sophomore from Newton, Mass., will belly-dance during intermission.

Traditionally performed by men and women, dabkeh is a traditional dance in much of the Middle East. It’s the national dance of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, and is found in Iraq under the name of “chobi.” The DC-Dabkeh Troupe is a new ensemble composed of students and professionals dedicated to preserving this tradition.

The troupe aims to raise a positive awareness of the deep-rooted Palestinian culture in a climate that it considers to be filled with negative images and perceptions, and to keep Palestinian culture and heritage alive through another generation.

“Dabkeh in Palestine is popular among all ages, but especially youngsters,” says Selina Jaber, a Bates senior from Palestine. “It’s a way to escape the reality of the Israeli occupation and the conservativism of the society.”

Jaber also points out that dabkeh is a dance of solidarity and is considered a way to express nationalism. Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine invited DC-Debkeh to Bates to help represent the Palestinian narrative to the college community.

“Dabkeh is a dance of community, often performed at weddings, parties and other joyous occasions,” says Jaber. “In Arabic, ‘dabkeh’ means ‘stomping of the feet,’ and stomping, as well as jumping and kicking, characterize the dance.”

The leader of the dance, or “raas,” improvises the type of dabkeh being danced, and he or she twirls a handkerchief or string of beads known as a mashba while the rest of the dancers keep rhythm. Dancers also use their voices to show energy and punctuate the rhythm.

Dabkeh is typically accompanied by the “mijwiz,” a double pipe; “tableh,” drums; and “mizmar,” a single-reed wind instrument.

Norman Finkelstein, controversial author of such books as Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (University of California Press, 2005) and The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (Verso, 2000 and 2003), speaks at 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8,  in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave. The public is invited to attend the talk, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine and the Department of Politics, free of charge.

Finkelstein is no stranger to controversy. A New York City native and the son of Jewish Holocaust survivors, his positions on anti-Semitism, what he describes as the “Holocaust Industry” and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have earned him both passionate critics, including Harvard Holocaust historian Daniel Goldhagen and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, and staunch supporters, including MIT Professor of Linguistics Emeritus and political critic Noam Chomsky and the late Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg.

Finkelstein taught at Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, Hunter College, New York University and at DePaul University, where he was an assistant professor from 2001 to 2007.

Denied tenure in a controversial decision by DePaul in June 2007, Finkelstein was scheduled to teach a final year at the university in 2007-08, when the institution decided to place him on administrative leave in fall 2007 and canceled his fall classes. Responding to his employer’s decision with the threat of civil disobedience, Finkelstein announced his resignation from DePaul in September, when he reached an undisclosed settlement with the university.

Finkelstein attended Binghamton University as an undergraduate, followed by studies at École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. He received a master’s and Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University.

Palestinian activists Mohammad Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal speak about the nonviolent struggle of Palestinians at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., Bates College. Cosponsored by the Mushahada Association, the Multicultural Center, Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine and the politics department, the talk is open to the public free of charge.

A leading opponent of the Israeli separation barrier, Khatib is a prominent member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of Bil’in’s Village Council. Khatib has been arrested and wounded by the Israeli military during nonviolent protests. He is quoted frequently in the Palestinian, Israeli and international media and his writing has been published in the International Herald Tribune.

Haikal recently retired after 11 years as the headmistress at the Kortuba School in the heart of Hebron’s old city. The school serves 100 Palestinian children in grades 1-10 and has become a model of nonviolent resistance. A lifelong resident of Tel Rumeida and the mother of 11 children, Haikal says she has remained in her home with her family despite efforts by settlers to take over their property. She says that she and her family have been attacked and harassed by settlers, and her husband and sons arrested by the Israel military, simply for insisting on remaining in their homes.