Palestinian music sensation Mohammed Assaf is unlikely to appear in any location in Jerusalem, but the winner of the second season of "Arab Idol" is certainly present in East Jerusalem. Since Assaf's win, the cobbled streets of the old city have been rocking with his voice, as his flagship song “Alii al-Kofia Alii” and others are played over and over by music stores, as well as cafes, tourist shops and grocery stores. Assaf’s handsome Gazan face enamored storefront windows throughout Salah Eddin Street, the city’s main business thoroughfare.
The success of this Palestinian refugee didn’t come easy, which made his victory that much more meaningful. Assaf's story of how he arrived late in Cairo for the audition and how he had to climb the walls of the hotel where the audition was taking place to make the line-up, only to find he didn’t have the needed participant registration card. His mother’s role in encouraging him, and the generosity of a fellow Palestinian contestant who heard his impromptu singing and gave Assaf his registration card, has become part of the Palestinian lore repeated and added to by the public.
He has already become a household name, and his story of growing up in Khan Younis refugee camp captured imaginations and made him larger than life in a short time. Although he has tried hard to carry himself as an artist and not as a politician, he is seen as having accomplished more to unify the Palestinians than political leaders. Perhaps the large crowds that gathered on the night of his June 22 victory, and the celebrations that continued into the early hours of the morning — wherever there were Palestinians — is the best proof of his unifying success.
The MBC TV station, which broadcasted "Arab Idol," reflected on the celebrations with four screens in Beirut, Ramallah, Gaza and Nazareth. After kneeling on the studio floor once his victory was announced, Assaf didn’t fail to mention all Palestinian communities — the West Bank, Gaza, within the borders of 1948 and the diaspora — as well as thank Palestinian prisoners and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the homeland.
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