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| Asaf: Performing (click) |
23-year-old Mohammed Assaf was crowned winner of the Arab idol. From wedding singer to the status he has achieved shows that Palestinian youth have a lot of potential to prove themselves provided, given the opportunities.
Festivities continued into the small hours of Sunday in both Gaza and the West Bank. In downtown Ramallah, the political capital of the West Bank, thousands of people partied noisily in the city's main squares.
Born to Palestinian parents in Misrata, Libya, Assaf grew up in the teeming Khan Yunis refugee camp in southern Gaza.The coastal strip, one of the world's poorest and most densely-populated areas, has been under a tight Israeli military blockade since 2006.
For his final act on Saturday, Assaf sang "Raise the Keffiyeh" a Palestinian nationalist song which refers to the traditional chequered scarf made famous by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, with his version blasted almost on a loop by radio stations and car stereos throughout the night.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas phoned him personally during the television contest and later crowned him the national goodwill ambassador.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, also congratulated him, naming him their Youth Ambassador.
Source: here.
and the Jewish Press here.
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