DUNDEE’S LORD provost John Letford is to ask the Foreign Office to investigate why the deputy mayor of Nablus has been prevented from travelling to Dundee to take part in a youth festival, writes Brian Allison, local government reporter.

The West Bank city has been twinned with Dundee for more than 25 years, and Mr Letford had invited them to send a representative to the festival.

It had been intimated that deputy mayor Dr Hafez Shaheen would be coming to Dundee, but the lord provost has been told that he was not permitted by the Israeli authorities to cross the border.

The situation is similar to last year when the mayor of Nablus was prevented by the Jordanian authorities from travelling to Dundee for the youth festival.

Mr Letford said he was disappointed Dr Shaheen was not being allowed to come to Dundee.

He said, “I will be contacting the Foreign Office to see if they can ascertain the reason for Dr Shaheen being prevented from coming to Dundee.

“It is particularly disappointing given that we have a party of young musicians from Nablus here at the moment on a visit to foster friendship and understanding.”

The young people are members of the National Youth Band of Nablus, and they will be taking part in the Youth Festival parade through the city centre on Saturday.

Mr Letford asked the Foreign Office to find out why Nablus’s mayor was prevented from travelling last year, but the Jordanians refused to specify their reasons.

*Visitors from Dundee’s twin city of Nablus performed an outdoor lunchtime concert in the city centre yesterday.

Ten members from the National Youth Band, who are visiting the city as part of the Lord Provost’s Youth Festival, put on a display of Middle Eastern music outside Dundee Contemporary Arts.

Dundee has been twinned with Nablus for nearly 27 years, and now a complementary association— Nablus Dundee Twinning Association (NDTA)—has been formed which has allowed the youth group to travel to the city.

The youngsters, who are all aged between 13 and 17, also performed at a Music and Mezze event at Dundee West Church Hall, Perth Road, last night.

During the evening guests enjoyed a combination of Palestinian music and food, as well as some traditional Scottish ceilidh music.

The event raised money for a hospital in Nablus.

The group’s week will be rounded off on Saturday when the band march in a parade with young people from all of Dundee’s twin cities, and perform in City Square.