Ma'an Network

Sewar Salman, 21, is competing in the reality show "The President." The winners -- and three runners-up -- will be named unofficial youth envoys to three European countries and Russia.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The ballroom in the occupied West Bank’s only luxury hotel hummed with nervous activity, with shouts of “action,” “standby” and “quiet on the set” ringing through the room.

A forest of cameras trained on a string of sharply dressed young people vying for a panel of judges’ approval and for the public’s votes. 

But the competitors weren't trying to prove they were skilled singers and dancers. The earnest performers were hoping to win something much more serious – they were fighting to become "The President" as part of a reality TV show.

Of course the winner, to be chosen on June 25, won’t become a real head of state. But he or she -- plus three runners-up -- will be named unofficial youth envoys to three European countries and Russia. They will also get the opportunity to shadow a Palestinian Authority minister. 

Chosen from over 1,000 young hopefuls from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel, the contestants are put through their intellectual and rhetorical paces by a five-person panel of judges made up of the cream of Palestinian and Arab-Israeli society. 

Sewar Salman, who is one of 13 remaining contestants, shares her political ideas freely.

“If negotiations (with Israel) don’t work, as 'The President' it is my right to achieve a Palestinian state through resistance,” said the 21-year-old from Halhul, a town near the West Bank city of Hebron.

A Palestinian state isn’t the only thing on the communications student’s mind – she has some choice words for her elders as well. 

“We don’t need the old generation. We need (leaders) who understand what young people need,” said Salman. “We believe we are able to change society more than anyone else.” 

Young Palestinians like Salman could be forgiven for having lost faith in their political system. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high and an independent state remains little more than a dream.

The show, run by non-governmental organization Search for Common Ground and Palestinian Ma’an Network, an independent non-profit media organization, was launched in March, and comes at a tricky time for Palestinian leaders.

On April 13, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad quit amid rumors of a power struggle at the top of the ruling Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, there have been reports that an agreement between rival factions, including relatively secular Fatah and the militant group Hamas that runs the Gaza Strip, have come to nothing. 

The director of the show, Adham Hosari, says the whole point is to involve young Palestinians in the political process.

“The young generation is marginalized politically, and they have the chance to choose a new president,” he said. 

Hosari said the show had achieved high ratings, although he and others at the network were unable to provide numbers.

“The final material prize is not important,” Hosari said. “We want the people to know about the problems the Palestinians are facing politically and socially.”

But while the show emphasizes youth and purports to call for the overhaul of the country’s establishment, the judges are themselves drawn from the upper echelons of the Palestinian establishment. They include legislator Hanan Ashrawi and parliamentarian Ahmad Tibi.

And in another nod to the Palestinian political class, the five-person committee gets 75 percent of the deciding votes, while the television audience only the remaining 25 percent. 

Nonetheless, the feeling in the ballroom in Ramallah is that the contestants battling each other are the future leaders of their people, and the current leadership would be wise to listen to what they have to say. 

Indeed, Salman says her life has been transformed by participating in the show, and cannot walk down the street in her traditionally conservative community without being recognized -- and encouraged. 

She recounted a recent conversation with an elderly bookseller: “'Please win, win for us, just be The President’, he told me.”

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Hatem Moussa / AP

Relatives of a man killed by an Israeli airstrike mourn during his funeral Tuesday in the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City. Israel said the man, Hithem Masshal, was a "key terror figure."

TEL AVIV, Israel -- An Israeli air strike killed a "key terror figure" responsible for firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, a Palestinian stabbed to death an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, police said.

It was the first time an Israeli had been killed by a Palestinian in the West Bank since 2011, according to Reuters.  

The Israeli strike on Gaza, which is ruled by Islamist militant group Hamas, appeared to be the first such attack since a ceasefire ended an eight-day war in November.

It came just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a military response to rocket fire into Israel from the strip.

"The terrorist that was targeted is Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, 24 years old, a resident of Shati Refugee Camp," the IDF said in a statement.  

"Mashhal acted in different Jihad Salafi terror organizations and over the past few years has been a key terror figure, specializing in weapons and working with all of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip," it added.

Masshal made, modified and traded in ammunition, specializing in rockets and explosive devices, according to the IDF. 

A spokesman for Itzhar settlement named the slain man as Eviatar Borovsky, a 31-year-old father of five. Border policemen shot and wounded Borovsky's attacker.

The violence ended a period of relative calm in the region, and came after Arab states appeared to soften their stance on Israel's borders at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Ammar Awad / Reuters

Racers reach the finish line of the first Palestinian marathon in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Sunday.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Jesus' traditional birthplace has long been linked to tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. On Sunday, around 650 athletes took a step towards transforming Bethlehem's modern image by running in the first official Palestinian marathon.

“It’s a strange site to see people run in the West Bank,” said runner Dina Khuri, 21, from Beit Sahour.  “Usually when people run here it has to do with violence, but this time it’s for fun."

Courtesy Dina Khouri

Dina Khouri, left, took part in an historic marathon in the West Bank on Sunday.

Security was tight in the wake of the Boston attacks that killed three and injured more than 170 on Monday. Before the event, organizers said they were "deeply saddened by the news from Boston."

For George Zeidan from Jerusalem, the marathon was not only about fitness.

"Sports (are) my inspiration and my way of identifying myself," he wrote in a blog posted on the marathon website before the race. "I am running for the freedom of Palestine and my people.  I am running to inform everybody that we Palestinians are just like everyone else, we run, dance, sing, play, jump, and have fun, not only that but we are also good at it."

The race started and finished at the Church of the Nativity, thought to be the oldest continuously operating Christian church, and took runners in four loops around Bethlehem. Competitors ran through the Al Ayda and Dheisheh camps, which house 17,700 Palestinian refugees.

The participants from 28 countries passed the barrier separating the West Bank and Israel, which Israelis call the separation wall and Palestinians refer to as the apartheid wall.  The turn-around point was an Israeli Army checkpoint on the road leading to Jerusalem.   

Palestinians Abed El Naser Awajneh and Christine Gebler won the men and women's races, respectively, according to organizers.  

Organizer Signe Fischer said that the main message behind holding the race was to emphasize the importance of freedom of movement. 

“The situation here is of stalemate and this marathon is a positive message for people to do something to change things," she said.

While the United Nations organized a marathon in the Hamas-controlled enclave of Gaza in May, 2011, Sunday's race was the first Palestinian marathon. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority gained non-member state status for Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in November, 2012.  

Alongside growing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, who have been struggling for years to establish an independent state, have come growing restrictions on their ability to travel into Israel and Gaza. 

Earlier in the week Israelis refused to allow some 20 runners from Gaza to travel to the race. Gaza residents can only go to the West Bank for "exceptional humanitarian reasons with an emphasis on urgent medical cases," Israeli officials were quoted with saying. 

This was likely a big blow to Gaza resident Nader Al-Masri who represented Palestine in the 5,000-meter race at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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AFP / Getty Images file

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, talks to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the United Nations in November 2012.

TEL AVIV -- Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was expected to formally hand in his resignation Thursday night, but President Mahmoud Abbas, facing pressure from the United States to keep him from quitting, postponed the meeting, Palestinian sources said Friday.

Fayyad had offered his resignation in writing to Abbas following a rift between the two leaders over government policy and the handling of the economic crisis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

But during the G8 talks in London on Thursday, a State Department official said, "He is staying in his post, as far as I know."

"I think Abbas wanted to accept his resignation yesterday, but the surprise announcement to Mahmoud Abbas by the Americans was a strong message for Fayyad not to resign and a strong message to Abbas not to accept," said a source at Abbas' ruling Fatah party who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Fatah is deeply critical of Fayyad, blaming him for unpopular economic policies – his proposed budget cuts and austerity measures have triggered widespread protests in the West Bank.

Fatah officials have even suggested that the president would be "happy" to see him go, while party officials "wanted him to leave a long time ago."

But Fayyad, a former World Bank official, enjoys wide support in the West – including in Washington, which is making coordinated efforts to revive Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations and boost the struggling economy.

"I don't think Fatah realizes that Fayyad is the only Palestinian politician who enjoys wide support abroad from international donors," said a Western diplomat in Jerusalem who asked not to be named. The diplomat added that financial assistance could be halted abruptly if Fayyad exits the government because he has so much leverage with Washington, the Israelis and Europe.

Fayyad's institution-building drive in the West Bank had been "the single best thing" that had happened in the Palestinian territories in recent years, the diplomat said, adding that "the premier was also highly trusted by Israeli leaders."

A high-ranking European diplomat who did not want his name published told Reuters that Abbas had been under pressure to delay dealing with this resignation for at least two months to see how far the American initiative will reach.

Analysts said Fayyad's resignation would not have a direct effect on peace talks, but might impact the economic stability on which the process hinges.

"Fayyad never dealt with negotiations, security -- he only dealt with the economy," said Av Yissaharof, an Israeli analyst for Palestinian affairs.

"If the resignation is accepted, it will have an effect on the PA (Palestinian Authority) economy. Fayyad had excellent contacts and relations with Israel on the economy front and Abbas will be hurt due to Fayyad's excellent relationship with the West, and with the donors," he said.

But a Fatah official in the office of the president cautioned that any decision by Abbas to remove his prime minister would only occur with the dismissal of the entire government. He said the U.S. is "interfering with the PA" and wants to "limit Abbas' political role but underestimates his political influence."

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Nasser Shiyoukhi / AP

Palestinian security forces carry the body of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, center, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, April 4, 2013.

ANABTA, West Bank -- Thousands of mourners turned out on Thursday for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in some of the worst violence in the occupied West Bank in years.

The upsurge in unrest was triggered on Tuesday by the death of Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail and suffering from cancer.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of delaying treatment for Hamdeya and gave him full military honors at a funeral on Thursday in Hebron, where masked gunmen fired into the air as his body arrived at a mosque in the divided West Bank city.

In the wave of disturbances that followed his death, four Palestinian youths threw firebombs at an Israeli checkpoint near Tulkarm in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, the army said.

Soldiers returned fire and killed two teenagers from the nearby town of Anabta -- Amer Nassar, 17, and Naji Belbisi, 18.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel's use of lethal force showed that it wanted to "provoke chaos" in the Palestinian Territories and avoid any moves toward a peace deal.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Palestinian nurses hold posters with the picture of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh with Arabic that reads, "Captive martyr brigade, Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, the captive movement martyr, died on April 2, 2013," outside the morgue of a hospital in Hebron on Thursday.

The wave of violence erupted two weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama paid his first official visit to the region, urging the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume long-stalled peace talks but offering no initiative to break the deadlock.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to travel to Jerusalem again next week to review the stalemate.

First airstrike since truce
The United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israeli forces had killed nine Palestinians, most of them in clashes in the West Bank, so far this year, compared with three in the same period in 2012.

The bodies of Nassar and Belbisi, their blood-stained faces clearly visible, were carried on stretchers through the packed streets of Anabta, held aloft by uniformed members of the Palestinian security forces.

"O martyrs rest, rest. We will continue the struggle," the crowds chanted as the lifeless teenagers passed by.

Israeli officials urged Palestinian leaders to push for calm, and dismissed suggestions that a third uprising, or Intifada, was brewing in the West Bank -- territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which is now home to more than 340,000 Jewish settlers.

"The term 'Third Intifada' is meant to describe a general breakdown and uprising ... There are no powers there pushing for a third Intifada or general uprising," senior defense official Amos Gilad told Israel Radio.

Underscoring the potential for more violence, the Israeli army said that for a third straight day, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Thursday. No casualties or damage were reported.

Following initial rocket fire on Tuesday, Israeli jets carried out their first airstrike on Gaza since a truce ended several days of fighting in November.

Alaa Badarneh / EPA

Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of Amer Nassar and Naji Balbisi in Anabta village near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday.

An al Qaeda-linked group, Magles Shoura al-Mujahadeen, claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying it was responding to the death of Hamdeya.

Israel says Gaza's ruling Hamas movement bears overall responsibility for any rocket fire and has urged Egypt, which helped broker the November truce, to use its influence with the Islamist group.

"The Egyptians are very active. Dialogue with them is constant and their interest is in keeping stability and preventing firing, violence and terrorism," Gilad said.

For the second time this year, the death of a Palestinian prisoner has sparked widespread anti-Israeli disturbances.

In February, Arafat Jaradat, 30, died after an interrogation session. Palestinian officials said he had been tortured, an allegation Israel denied.

Palestinians say Hamdeya complained of feeling sick last August, but was only discovered to be suffering from cancer in January. They say he did not receive adequate treatment and should have been released because of the gravity of the illness.

Israelis said Hamdeya, serving a life term for attempted murder after sending a suicide bomber to a Jerusalem cafe, was a heavy smoker and had received adequate care.

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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

U.S. President Barack Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas walk in the Church of the Nativity during their visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem on March 22, 2013.

Jason Reed / Reuters

Obama meets Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III (3rd left) during a tour of the Church of the Nativity.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Obama walks out of the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

By Matt Spetalnick and Ali Sawafta, Reuters

President Barack Obama made a pilgrimage on Friday to Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

At the Church of the Nativity, Obama ducked to enter through its small Door of Humility. Manger Square, the plaza in front of the church, was almost deserted except for security personnel.

Earlier, Obama visited Israel's most powerful national symbols, paying homage at the Holocaust memorial and the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, and Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister assassinated in 1995 by an extremist Jew over peace moves with the Palestinians.

Wearing a Jewish skullcap, Obama rekindled an eternal flame at the Yad Vashem memorial next to a stone slab above ashes recovered from Nazi extermination camps after World War Two.

"We have a choice to acquiesce to evil or make real our solemn vow - never again," Obama said.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Obama tours the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, alongside Avner Shalev (right), Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

Obama pays his respects in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem after Marines laid a wreath on his behalf.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Obama listens to Netanyahu during their visit to the Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem.

Jason Reed / Reuters

Obama walks with Rabbi Israel Meir Lau in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Obama begins first official trip to Israel

Ilia Yefimovich / Getty Images

A kid holds a Palestinian flag as Palestinians erect protest tents in a camp on March 20, in the E1 area next to Ma'ale Adumim. The action took place at the same time as U.S. President Barack Obama arrived to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.

RAMALLAH, Israel – Away from the pomp and ceremony of Barack Obama’s appearance in the West Bank on Thursday, the reaction to the president’s visit ranged from hostility to indifference.

Mustafa al Khteeb, a school teacher with seven children, was preoccupied with supporting his family, not the president’s arrival.

“I cannot feed my children,” he said as he gestured at an empty refrigerator and suppressed tears. “I feel like half a man. This is a shame.”

Al Khteeb’s salary, small to start with at about $700-a-month, is rarely paid on time, and usually he gets only half of it. The Palestinian Authority is strapped for cash and the first people to be affected are the 153,000 civil servants, including teachers, who can barely survive the month. In January, they went on strike calling for full payment of their salaries.

“I blame President Obama,” al Khteeb said.

“Why?” a reporter asked.  “Why not blame your own government, or Israel? Why is it America’s fault?”

“Because Israel does what America tells it to do and America is on the side of Israel,” he answered.

The Palestinian Authority’s money shortfall is due to a combination of disappointing domestic revenue, falling international donations and Israel sometimes withholding the hundred million dollars it collects a month in tax on behalf of the PA.

Meanwhile, unemployment runs at around 18 percent, and average annual income for a Palestinian at about $12,000 a year, less than half of that in Israel.

Many here pin the blame for the hardship on the United States, and that spilled over as Obama’s visit approached.

Workers in the Muqata, the government compound, played cat and mouse for days with protesters who defaced posters of the American leader, waited for them to be replaced, and defaced them again.

Small demonstrations against Obama popped up daily in Ramallah with slogans like “O-Obama, go back, Palestine is not for sale,” and “Obama, you are the enemy of the people of Palestine and ally of the Jews. You are not welcome here.”

Joy and hope
This anger was in marked contrast with the joy and hope with which Palestinians greeted Obama’s first term. They believed his 2009 speech in Cairo in which he called for democracy and for the rights of Palestinians and expected a change in American policy away from what they see as America’s blind support for Israel.

Four years later, little has changed for them: Israel continues to solidify its control on much of the West Bank and few believe in any peace process. No mention of the issue was made on Wednesday when Obama arrived in Israel.

So you hear it everywhere here: Life is hard on the West Bank and it is Obama’s fault.

“There are thousands like me,” said al Khteeb, the school teacher. “Nobody can live like this.”

The small numbers that attend the demonstrations tells another part of the story. A few dozen, a hundred or so at most, marched around the main square on Thursday, holding banners, calling through megaphones, as bystanders watched and went about their business.

“What good does it do?” one said. “Nobody listens to us.”

Obama’s visit to Israel is seen as a charm offensive, to mend fences with Israelis who have felt slighted and ignored by the American leader. He faces exactly the same problem with the Palestinians.

Martin Fletcher is the author of "The List,""Breaking News" and "Walking Israel."

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