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“We have to face the people who are against beauty, behaving like the Taliban.” With these words, Mahmood Darwish received the popular Palestinian singer Ammar Hassan in his office few days ago after Ammar faced a good times as well bad ones. Ammar has recently had two successful concerts in Ramallah and one in Bethlehem but in Qalqilya, where the city council has been under the control of Hamas since the last local elections, the municipality refused to allow the concert to go ahead and Nablus and its An-Najah University ended his concert by Armed men. Shots were fired in the air delaying the start and scuffles broke out when Ammar later cut short his performance. Why? He was forced to flee the scene, leaving thousands of young fans disappointed. What do you expect him to do when he sees Hamas members held posters reading “Don’t dance on our blood”? And armed men forcing him to sing only songs with hints of political themes?

Ammar… We love you!

Ammar is a singer for the Palestinian people. He sings about peace, about Jerusalem, and Palestine. And he sings about love.

Who forgets the year of hopes when Ammar lost in last summer’s Superstar finals. The Lebanese pop music show brings singers from throughout the Arab world with stars in their eyes and dreams of recording contracts to compete in several rounds, with professionals and flag-waving fans doing the judging. Hassan had been living outside when he joined last year’s competition. He told Palestinian reporters, via telephone from a Beirut hotel just before the finals, that he wished he was “back with you guys, drinking tea amongst the olive trees.”

After all what happened in Nablus, Taisir Tamimi, whose title is roughly translated as the Judge of the Judges, in the highest position with Akram Asabri, the Mufti of Palestine, said, “Palestinian popular art is part of our culture and is not against Islam.“

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