Damascus, SANA- The Palestinian novelist and screenwriter Hassan Sami Youssef passed away on Friday at the age of 79.

Youssef was born in Lubia village in Palestine in 1945 and then moved with his family after the Nakba of 1948 to Lebanon and then to Damascus.

The late Youssef founded, along with a number of young men, the “Palestinian National Theater Troupe,” where he was sent to study cinema at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Moscow.

He was the head of the Scripts Department at the National Film Organization.

He had dozens of literary publications in the novel, including “The Palestinian, The Boat, A Letter to Fatima, The Gate of Heaven, and The Girl of the Moon.

His rich production was in drama, where he wrote many series that gained wide fame, including “The Orange Tree, Sisters, Little Women, Secrets of the City, Our Sweet Days, Before Sunset, Warm Heart, Autumn Tale, Men and Women, Waiting, Forgiveness, The Time of Shame, and Regret.

Youssef gained a number of artistic and literary career awards.

Shaza Qreima