'Rocket' from Gaza aims for Arab Idol crown

Arab Idol is an over-the-top TV ratings smash in the Middle East, and a young crooner from a Palestinian refugee family, whom admirers have nicknamed "the Rocket", is stealing the show.

The surprise breakout of the second season is a 23-year-old Gaza Strip resident named Mohammed Assaf, whose patriotic folk songs and romantic ballads - with their themes of grit, longing and love - have propelled him into the final rounds. He is doing more than all the politicians to unify the Palestinian people.

"I think this shows the world there are many normal people in Gaza, that Gaza is not just this place of terrorists and criminals but nice people," said Ala'a Nabrees, 22, a long-time friend. "He is the Palestinian dream."

This sounds corny, Nabrees acknowledged. "But it is true," he said. "Young people in Gaza? They really want to see somebody make it."

Assaf's fans at home and in the Palestinian diaspora praise the university student and moonlighting wedding singer as the complete package. He is the dutiful son who called out to his parents in the audience on Friday night, telling them that they were "the crown on top of my head".

He performed in an earlier show in a kaffiyeh, a scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian pride and resistance. Plus, he looks as if he just stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, the fans say. more

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