Mohammed Assaf

His mother's family hails from the village of Bayt Daras, which was captured and depopulated by the nascent IDF in 1948 and his father's family is from Beersheba.

Assaf's parents moved to Khan Yunis Refugee Camp when he was four years old.

He is one of six siblings, three of whom, including Assaf, have been involved in performing live music.

Assaf's mother Intisar, a mathematics teacher, has stated that Assaf began singing at the age of five and "had a voice of someone who was much, much older."

Before his role on the television show he was attending Gaza City's Palestine University majoring in media and public relations.

Assaf did not have professional training as a singer; he started his career singing at weddings and other private events.

Mohammad Jaber Abdul Rahman Assaf (محمد جبر عبدالرحمن عساف; born 1 September 1989) is a Palestinian pop singer well known for being the winner of the second season of Arab Idol, broadcast by the MBC network.

His victory received worldwide coverage from the media and was welcomed with joy by Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.

He entered the public view in 2000 during a popular local television program where he called in and sung a nationalist song to the host's praise.

Afterward, he was frequently offered contracts with local record companies.

Sometime after his first performance, he sang in a local event in Gaza attended by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.

Mohammad Assaf travelled from Gaza Strip to Egypt to audition for Arab Idol.

It took him two days to reach Egypt by car due to complications on the border.

At the beginning, he had to convince the Egyptian security at the border crossing, where he was stuck for two days, to leave Gaza.

Once he reached the hotel where the auditions were taking place, the doors were closed in which they did not accept anymore auditions so he jumped over the wall.

After he jumped over the wall, he couldn't get a number to audition; he sat hopelessly in the hall where other contestants were waiting for their turn.

He started singing to the contestants, and a Palestinian contestant, Ramadan Abu Nahel, who was waiting to audition heard him and gave him his number saying, "I know I won't reach the finals but you will."

He was given the nickname Asaroukh ("The Rocket") by Lebanese singer and Arab Idol judge Ragheb Alama.

Assaf was acclaimed by the jury and the public.

His voice and appearance have drawn comparisons to Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, which has garnered Assaf both fame and controversy.

Fans merged part of Hafez's name with Assaf's, as in Assaf Hilm Falastine ("Assaf Palestine’s Dream").

Assaf's final performance was his own song that was well known before his rise to fame "Ali al-kuffiyeh" ("Raise The Kuffiyeh"), a Palestinian song that called on Palestinians to raise their kuffiyehs (a traditional Arab headdress that has become a Palestinian nationalist symbol) and to unite, in light of the split between the two major Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had tuned in to watch his performance.

On 22 June Assaf was declared the winner of Arab Idol, winning the most votes and coming ahead of two other competitors, Ahmed Gamal and Farah Youssef, from Egypt and Syria, respectively.

Massive celebrations by Palestinians ensued after the announcement of his victory, including festivities held on the streets of Gaza City, East Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Khan Yunis, Nazareth, Lebanon and Jordan, And when his professional career as an artist began after the title of Arab Idol, he was accompanied by Awtar Band led by The Maestro Yacoub Al-Atrash in Arab and international festivals since then.

Assaf has gained widespread popularity throughout the Arab world and among fellow Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the diaspora through his performance of well-known Arabic love songs and patriotic hymns for the Palestinian cause.

Family members, neighbors and Palestinians in general have been waiting for his performance in Beirut every Friday night.

Board member of Gaza Association for Culture and Arts Jamal Abu Qumsan stated Assaf "has struck a chord with Palestinians by singing classic Arabic songs that deal with issues other than war and struggle ... To many here, that kind of music offers them a sense of stability" amid constantly unstable circumstances due to the conflict with Israel and intra-Palestinian strife.

Mohammed Assaf sang in English during one of the live shows of Arab Idol, performing the song "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys.

The buzz Assaf created has reached the United States, Europe, and recently other parts of Asia, due to articles posted by American-based news websites such as Wet Paint, Voice of America, 12 News, The Japan Times, the CNN news website CNN International, as well as European-based news sites such as Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau.

The Guardian published an article titled "Arab Idol favourite Mohammed Assaf carries hopes of Palestinians into final",.

Post his widely expected win, Al Jazeera English interviewed him in Doha, Qatar, during his tour, and dedicated an entire episode of the programme Inside Story detailing Assaf's journey through Arab Idol.

He was described as "the wedding singer from Gaza who was brought up in a refugee camp, to become an international star and a Palestinian hero."

In 2013, Assaf was named a goodwill ambassador for peace by The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

He was also named ambassador of culture and arts by the Palestinian government and was offered a position with "diplomatic standing" by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Assaf's story is the basis of the 2015 film The Idol, directed by Hany Abu-Assad.

After Arab Idol, Assaf has gone on to enjoy huge popularity in the Arab World and the Arab diaspora and has released two albums and a great number of singles and collaborations.

Most of his music is sung in the Iraqi and Gulf dialects.

Assaf was born in Misrata, Libya to Palestinian parents.

He lived there until he was 4 years old, when his parents moved back to Gaza, he grew up in Khan Younis refugee camp with a middle class couple where he attended UNRWA elementary school.