With his glinting smile and powerful vocals captivating audiences and panel of judges, an Arab Idol contestant has become the first Palestinian to advance into a late stage of the pan-Arab talent competition. Mohammed Assaf, from Gaza, has become a national icon among Palestinians. 

Ahmed and Mohamed Abu Nasser were born in 1988 in Gaza, where there are no movie theaters. But the twins, who work under the names Tarzan and Arab, were determined to make movies, so they would run home from school to their computer, where they would watch six, seven films in a single run, and then dream up imaginary plots and titles and make posters for the pretend projects. 

After a long battle against the building of the separation wall in the Cremisan valley in Beit Jala, Israeli Special Appeals Committee ruled in favor of building the wall on April 24. This decision will deprive people from Beit Jala from their right to practice their religious, agricultural, and cultural traditions by severing them from the lands that have been in their families for generations. Father Ibrahim Shomali is the Catholic parish priest who has been leading an open-air mass in the valley in hopes to save the valley. 

Thirteen years ago, Ramzi Quiseyeh had a dream- when he was picnicking with his family on his land in Al Makhrour valley in Beit Jala he decided to turn his farm into a restaurant. But Ramzi's dream was interrupted last May when Israeli army jeeps and three bulldozers came at six in the morning and demolished the restaurant under the premise that its construction was illegal. 

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad's latest narrative feature film, Omar, has been selected for the Un Certain Regard sidebar section at the Cannes International Film Festival in France from May 15 to 26. 

The exile, fear and frustration of Palestinians expelled from their homeland will be brought to life through John Bisharat’s composed autobiography "Ya Way Li." The piece, which is debuting April 20 with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in California, is part of the program, "Notes from the Middle East," which brings together viewpoints of Palestinians, Egyptians and Israelis through music.  

Palestinian boys participate during a class at the Red Dragon martial arts club in Beit Lahiyeh, in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Straight outta Lod, Israel: a trio that's often hailed as the first Palestinian hip-hop group will kick off a U.S. tour promoting its new album, "Dabke on the Moon," at Drom this Sunday. DAM was formed in 1998 by Mahmoud Jreri and brothers Suhell and Tamer Nafar. Suhell grew up loving the "fast lyrics and the beat" of hip-hop; his older brother Tamer at first hated the music but changed his mind when he heard Tupac Shakur's "Holler If Ya Hear Me."