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Ramadan soap opera has Arab countries captivated

With its tales of brave men and dutiful women in a simpler, long-vanished Middle East, a Syrian soap opera has become the latest rage in the Arab world during the holy month of Ramadan.

Throughout the month, people across the Middle East have irreverently rushed from mosques and flocked to crowded coffeehouses each evening to catch the wildly addictive Bab el-Hara, or The Neighborhood Gate.

The show is so popular that when the leader of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, a hero to many in the Arab world, gave a televised address last Friday, many of his supporters skipped it and watched the soap instead.

The Neighborhood Gate, a Syrian production, is this year's hit, drawing millions throughout the Arab world -- from poverty-stricken Gaza to the opulent cities of the Persian Gulf -- with a nostalgic portrayal of the Middle East.

The show follows families in a Damascus neighborhood between the world wars, when the French ruled Syria and the local population chafed under foreign control and yearned for independence.

In the impoverished, devout Gaza Strip, Muslims have asked preachers to quickly wind up evening worship to get home in time for the show.

Imad Qadi, a preacher in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said more worshippers this year were hurrying home to watch the show, instead of undertaking a lengthy evening prayer traditionally performed in Ramadan.

At one upscale restaurant in east Jerusalem, waiters hastily set up a large projector screen minutes before the show began one recent evening.

Last Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech to mark al-Quds Day, or Jerusalem day, in support of the Palestinians, many of whom enthusiastically support the Shiite cleric who led his guerrillas in a 34-day war against Israel last summer.

But the speech was broadcast at the same time as The Neighborhood Gate. For many Palestinians, the choice was easy.

"I would prefer Hassan Nasrallah to anybody, but ... I didn't watch because The Neighborhood Gate was on," said barber Mutasem Nuwara as he watched the show and cut a customer's hair simultaneously in his Ramallah barbershop.
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