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Was his teacher on the jury?
Hi Norman, the pianist is Palestinian, not Syrian. If he were Syrian he would never have found himself in Yarmouk camp (not just a “Palestinian camp”, but a Palestinian refugee camp, for Palestinian refugees). Like many in Yarmouk, Ayham al-Ahmed is of a family originally from towns and villages around the Galilee that were depopulated by force – and most later destroyed – in May 1948. Benny Morris (no friend of the Palestinians) is particularly good on this shameful and brutal period of recent history, which is the root of the tragedy in Yarmouk.