Daily News · 30 August 2004
CP-2004-017
Palestinian singer strikes a chord
The Associated Press
Transcribed from the clipping
SALFIT, West Bank — Palestinians hoping for a morale boost were disappointed yesterday when their contestant in a much-watched competition for the Arab world's best singer lost to a Libyan.
Ammar Hassan, 27, from the town of Salfit in the West Bank, became the darling of the Palestinian people as he made his way through the stages of the 13-week “Superstar 2” contest on the Lebanese TV channel al-Mustaqbal — a show similar to the popular “American Idol” program in this country.
About 5,000 people crowded into the park in the center of Salfit to watch the TV broadcast from Beirut by satellite. They stood stunned and silent when it was announced that Libyan singer Eyman Al-Atar outpolled Hassan by a wide margin.
As with practically everything in Palestinian society, the singing contest became a symbolic element in the campaign for an independent state and against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories the Palestinians claim. Bitterly disappointed, Mahmoud Yassin, 20, lashed out at fellow Arabs who did not vote for the Palestinian singer.
“They sold Jerusalem,” he said, referring to a perceived lack of Arab support for the Palestinian cause.
Context added by this archive
The same day's Associated Press copy as the Herald Sun printing, under a different headline.
Cite this item
"Palestinian singer strikes a chord," Daily News, 30 August 2004. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2004-017. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2004-017
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This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American and Anglophone newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1799 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
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