The celebration was attended by Dr. Victor Batarseh mayor of Bethlehem, Eng. Raji Zeidan mayor of Beit Jala, Dr. Antonio La Rocca Italian Cooperation, Mr. Peter Lundberg the Head of Development Cooperation in Sida, Arch. Issam Juha director of CCHP, Mr. Zoughbi Zoughbi director of Wi'am, Mrs. Maha Abu Dayyeh director of WCLAC, contractors and number of social institution representatives.

Dr. Victor praised the role CCHP is taking in rehabilitation and preserving the cultural heritage, and requested the community to cooperate and work together in order to protect and acknowledge the national heritage as an important aspect of the Palestinian existence.

Mr. Zoughbi thanked all the parties participated in succeeding Dar Samsour project which indicates the cooperation and partnership of the Palestinian people and its interest in protecting the cultural heritage and preserving such buildings from being demolished.  On the other hand, this project is considered important due to its closeness to the apartheid wall, which by adapting it for the benefit of the community would strengthen our struggle and rights.

Dr. Daibes emphasized on the importance of these two projects in Bethlehem and Beit Jala, indicating that implementing both Dar Sansour and Dar Makhlouf required determination and huge efforts in order to be completed without prejudice to the rights of property owners, and mentioned that the cultural issue is considered part of the government plan to build the institution of the Palestinian State, thanking Sida for their supporting in accomplishing this.  Moreover, Dr. Daibes pointed out that the CCHP make a good progress since its inception in rehabilitating many traditional buildings.

Eng. Zeidan, on behalf of the inhabitant and organizations of Beit Jala, expressed his thank to the owners of Dar Makhlouf, CCHP and Sida for realizing this significant project, praising the role of the contractor and the engineers as well.

Mrs. Abu Dayyeh in her speech believed that we are a nation with profound history, and in order to face and win our struggle in proving our rights on this land, we should draw our strength from this heritage and take advantage of it.

Arhc. Juha pointed out that these two projects funded by Sida are part of the programme "Job creating through rehabilitation" which aims at decreasing the percentage of the unemployment rate through preserving the cultural heritage.  This programme has created more than 50.000 working days.  As well, Juha draw the attention to the fact that the CCHP has been able till now to rehabilitate more than 20 buildings and prepare them for adaptive reuse.

Mr. Lundberg expressed the proud of the Swedish government in helping and contributing in preserving the Palestinian cultural heritage due to its importance to the Palestinian people.

During the tour in Dar Sansour, Arch. Luma Khoury demonstrated a presentation regarding the rehabilitation works done to this building, where she indicated that about 3.624 working days were created from this project.  In addition to a looping show presenting photos for the building before and after rehabilitation.

Moreover, Arch. Samia Murra demonstrated a presentation in Dar Makhlouf as well showing the rehabilitation works and the challenges faced and solutions, in addition to a series of photos of the building before and after rehabilitation and the activities occurred in the building.  This project created about 4.158 working days.