Arab Idol winner in triumphant return to Gaza

PALESTINE: Thousands of Gazans gave an ecstatic welcome to Mohammed Assaf on Tuesday as the 23-year-old Palestinian singer returned home after winning this year's Arab Idol talent competition.

Young and old waved Palestinian flags and held up posters of Mohammed Assaf, raising banners congratulating him on his win in Beirut on Saturday, when he beat off stiff competition from fellow singers from across the Arab world. Recordings of Assaf's songs blasted out from loudspeakers as crowds thronged his motorcade as it made its way up the Gaza Strip after crossing the Rafah border from Egypt. Huge crowds also gathered outside his home in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

The meteoric rise of Gaza's Assaf to snatch the top prize in the pan-Arab singing contest sparked an unprecedented outpouring of joy across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, bringing rare unity to the divided territories.

"We are making him an official welcome," said Gaza's Culture Ministry director Fakri Judeh, at the head of a Hamas government delegation to receive him.

"Assaf is a Palestinian citizen who has made an outstanding achievement... and we support him," he said. "We hope he will use his God-given talent to serve the Palestinian cause."

AFP