The Mossawa Center, Haifa. Thursday the 23rd of January 2014. Author Salman Natour was honored at an official ceremony presided over by Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi, the Sheikh of Sharja, at the Arab Theatre Festival in Sharjah, UAE. Salman Natour along with a variety of other authors and playwrights from Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Libya, Jordan, accepted awards in honor of their work and contributions to Arab theatre.

Salman Natour has had six plays produced in Palestinian theaters in Nazareth, Jaffa, Jerusalem and Ramallah. Three of these plays include, "Mawal" directed by Radi Shehadeh ,"Forced Landing" directed by Mazen Ghattas and, "Memory" directed by Adeeb Jahshan. These plays have been performed at festivals and in theaters in a majority of Arab countries, as well as in Europe and Latin America.
 
This was the sixth year of the Arab Theatre Festival, which is the largest festival for Arab theater in the world. More than three hundred Arab writers, directors, actors, critics and academics attended. Representing the Palestinian community were, Salman Natour and his wife, the artist, Nada Natour, critic and writer, Walid Abu Bakr, and Ehab Zahdeh, artist and theater director of the Yes Theatre in Hebron was invited as a guest of honor.

In addition to theatrical performances, the festival included a symposium on theater and plural identities, as well as a press conference in which Salman Natour spoke about his  project with the Mossawa Center,"Palestinian Culture - Rights and Spaces." The project in cooperation with Al Rowwad in the oPt and funded by the EU works to promote Palestinian culture in Israel and the west bank. "Natour emphasized his desire for the whole Arab world to be a space for Palestinian culture and he considers this award a firm step towards achieving this vision. In an interview with Gulf News Natour said, "When I started my literary journey I was asked, 'Who do you write for? You live under siege?' and I said, 'I write in order that my work may travel to where I cannot go,' and here I am today in Sharjah thanks to my word."

The Arab Association for Theatre established the festival six years ago. Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi, a playwright, critic and educator established Sharjah as the capital of Arab culture. The festival moves each year to a different Arab capital. Last year's festival took place in Amman and next year's is scheduled to be held in Morocco