The PCBS defined cultural centers as institutions that use tools and equipment in performing activities of arts, crafts, recreational and sports.

Cultural centers provided 9,000 activities in 2011; 10.9% of these activities were seminars, 10.1% lectures, 63.6% training courses, 12.9% performances and 2.5% shows, said PCBS.

PCBS said that the number of participants in cultural activities in 2011 reached 500,000 people, including 413,000 participants in the West Bank and 87,000 in Gaza, doubling the number of participants in cultural activities since 2001, which was 238,000.

It said the largest number of participants in cultural activities is in the governorate of Bethlehem at 86,000 participants, followed by Nablus at 74,000. While in the Northern Gaza governorate, there was less number of participants in cultural activities where it reached 3,000 participants.

It added that there are 14 operating museums in the Palestinian Territory of which 10 museums are in the West Bank and four in Gaza. Number of museum visitors reached about 45,000 people of which 94.1% were Palestinians and 5.9% of other nationalities. Number of museum visitors in 2001 was 15,000 visitors.

There are 10 theaters in the Palestinian Territory, of which seven are in the West Bank and three in Gaza. About 285 plays were performed in the Palestinian Territory of which 132 plays were in the West Bank and 153 in Gaza.

The PCBS said 57.5% of the plays were for children and 32.3% were for adults. While 10.2% were for both. The percentage of plays made by Palestinian actors was 89.4%, and 1.8% of the plays presented by Arab actors.

As for the number of visitors to theaters, PCBS said that it reached about 165,000 visitors where the highest number of them was in February 2011, reaching 23,000 visitors, followed by April of about 22,000 visitors, registering an increase compared with 2001 where it reached 45,000.

T.R./M.S.