Palestinian characters Kareem, Haneen and Salim, © Sesame Workshop

They were joined by a host of local and international guests, including Azzam Ahmad, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister, Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop, and many Palestinian schoolchildren.

The new season focuses on empowering Palestinian boys and encouraging them to express their feelings in non-violent ways. A new human character, Salim, who runs a Fix-It shop, has been introduced to the series to provide a positive male role model.

Salim's character was developed in August 2006 during an intensive writing workshop sponsored by the Global Alliance thanks to funding from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation. Key members of the Palestinian production team focused on script writing and film editing at the workshop, with a veteran Sesame Street puppeteer and writer leading many of the creative brainstorming sessions.

Sesame Workshop has been providing quality educational programming for children in West Bank and Gaza in partnership with Al Quds University's Institute of Modern Media since 1997.