Herald Sun · Durham, North Carolina · 30 August 2004

CP-2004-016

Palestinian singer loses contest

Libyan becomes new ‘Superstar’ on Lebanese TV

By Lara Sukhtian, Associated Press

Transcribed from the clipping

“SALFIT, West Bank — Palestinians hoping for a morale boost after four years of bloody conflict with Israel were disappointed Sunday, when their contestant in a much-watched contest for the Arab world’s best singer lost to a Libyan.

Ammar Hassan, 27, from the town of Salfit in the West Bank, stood stunned and silent when it was announced that Libyan singer Eyman Al-Atar outpolled Hassan by a wide margin. Gracious in defeat, Hassan and the winner took the stage together, holding each other’s national flags in a sign of unity.

Back home, however, some in Salfit called the vote unfair because of its unstructured nature: Under the contest rules, people could cast multiple ballots by cellular phone text messages and over the Internet.

Bitterly disappointed, Mahmoud Yassin, 20, lashed out at fellow Arabs who did not vote for the Palestinian singer… At a community center, a happy furor erupted when Ahmed Fulpan, 16, discovered a shortcut that would allow quick, easy multiple voting for Hassan over the Internet.

‘There is more than one way to fight for your country,’ he said, observing the young computer whiz. Despite the sad ending, the song contest provided a welcome three-month diversion.

Salfit is across the road from Ariel, the second-largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank with 18,000 residents, and clashes between Palestinians and Israelis are common, leading to curfews and arrests.”

Context added by this archive

A singing competition covered as national news, because it was. Ammar Hassan, 27, of Salfit, lost the Arab world’s Superstar final to a Libyan, and stood stunned and silent; the two then took the stage holding each other’s flags. The piece is at its best on the voting.

A sixteen-year-old named Ahmed Fulpan found a way to cast multiple ballots online, to a happy furor at the community centre, and somebody watching him says the line the story is worth keeping for:

‘There is more than one way to fight for your country.’ The last paragraph places Salfit across the road from Ariel, the second-largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and notes the curfews and arrests. The three-month contest is described as a welcome diversion.

Cite this item

"Palestinian singer loses contest," Herald Sun, 30 August 2004. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2004-016. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2004-016

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