Fans react as Palestinian singer Mohamed Assaf performs during his concert in The Hague on Sunday.

AFP/The Hague


The Gazan winner of the Arab Idol talent competition Mohamed Assaf brought his thumping Palestinian beats out of the Middle East for the first time on Sunday in his electrifying European debut.
Assaf, 24, became a national hero and a rare symbol of Palestinian unity when he won the pan-Arab contest in June after transfixing millions of television viewers with his soaring renditions of Arab love ballads and patriotic Palestinian songs.
The packed audience at The Hague town hall rose as one as Assaf took to the stage, with refugees and diplomats alike dancing in the aisles and waving the flag of Palestine and many other Arab nations.
“He is an example for Arab youth, he managed to make his dream reality despite the difficulties,” said Ahmed, a 17-year-old Palestinian living in The Netherlands.
“What’s amazing is that a Palestinian can be talked about in a positive way. That doesn’t happen often,” he said.
Palestinians from The Netherlands but also Germany and Belgium travelled to the concert, which was also attended by most Arab ambassadors posted to The Hague.
“I’m really happy for him. It’s true that people are sometimes afraid to talk about Palestine in a positive way,” said Nour, 20, a Dutch-Moroccan who came to the concert with his sister Sarah, 19.
“Thank you The Netherlands for welcoming the Arab Idol,” said Palestinian ambassador Nabil Abuznaid as he introduced Assaf, hailing his “message of peace”.
Israel in August took the exceptional step of allowing Assaf to move from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a “humanitarian gesture”.
“I am happy, this is an opportunity to be in front of a non-Arab audience, and that’s a good thing,” Assaf told AFP in an interview before the concert. “I’d like to reach out to the world.”
“Maybe there are different audiences, or the techniques are different in the Middle East and in Europe and America, but what I know is music is something that when people first hear, they love.”