Assaf: Refugee camp emerges from 'Arab Idol'

This is an inspirational story.

Mohammed Assaf, less than 24 years old, is a refugee in Gaza's Hanyounis camp.

In order to enter Arab Idol, a pan-Arab talent competition, he sneaked out of Gaza, where the job market was depressed, to Cairo and then to Lebanon to audition. However, due to delays caused by the blockade of Gaza, registration had already ended when he arrived in Beirut.

Desperate, Assaf called his mother and decided to climb over the wall and enter the hotel where the show was held, but the committee stood by its decision.

Another Palestinian heard his voice and offered him his place, telling him: "I know I can't make it to the end, but you can."

It was a happy ending, with Assaf becoming the first Palestinian ever to win the Arab Idol title, beating two finalists from Egypt and Syria.

It's a hot topic across the Arab world. Due to the time difference, "Arab Idol" is broadcast in the early hours of the morning in Beijing, but my octogenarian father is always in front of the TV without warning. He was an old refugee who had fled his native Palestine to Syria during the humiliating years of 1948.

His affection for Assaf was not so much a sign of support as a return to a long-lost sense of belonging, a feeling for the loss of home.

Her four children, who had never set foot in Palestine, were moved by her dedication. For them, the motherland is usually just a noun that is used when filling out all kinds of application forms.

The children made desperate international calls to vote for Assaf, believing that at this time, in Europe and the United States, Chile, Argentina, Guyana and other countries and regions, there are countless Palestinian families in my situation.

Mr Assaf's success has shown that Palestinians are capable of more than politics and guerrilla warfare, and that they are capable of doing it in many different fields. They have their own culture, art, and even, due to their special historical background, they have things that other peoples do not have, such as prison culture.

Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails have gone on hunger strike to demand that prison officials provide them with live feeds of "Arab idols". In a letter to Assaf, they offered one of their most spectacular endorsements ever: "You must come on, we are all losing meat for you."

On social networking sites, Algerians wrote to Assaf: "My whole family didn't cook yesterday. Everyone was watching you. For the weekend, you're our dinner."

Palestinian art reflects reality, inspired by the repression of life and the continuing Israeli occupation, but also expresses the pursuit of peace through music.

Ramzi Aburedwan, the stone-slingboy who appeared in an iconic photograph in 1988, grew up to be a troubadour for peace; DAM, a rap group composed of three young Israeli Arabs, has spread across the Arab world and many European and American countries with songs that represent the voice of the Palestinian people, such as Who Are the Terrorists and I Want Freedom.

More Palestinians are discovering that music is a more effective weapon than stones. In early 2009, "We Will Not Go Down" was sung in Gaza, which had been under Israeli bombardment for nearly a month, to pay tribute to the more than 1,400 dead.

For Palestinians who have been refugees for three generations, the previous generation was a bitter one that experienced first-hand the devastation of the loss of their homes; We are a lost generation, abroad, unable to support our nation and country; And then there will be a generation of ambiguities, uncertain about the future and little understanding of the past.

Assaf has succeeded in becoming a symbol that unites three generations of Palestinians, unites Palestinians, groups and factions of different political ideologies, and unites all Arabs who, in the context of the Arab revolutions, support democracy, freedom and desire for justice.