Considering the Palestinians have only had two presidents in over 20 years, it's no wonder they are taking it upon themselves to elect their own leader - or a televised version at least. In the West Bank's answer to the Apprentice, Ma'an Network has launched The President, a reality TV show that follows the story of 16 young Palestinians (out of 1,200 that auditioned) as they compete to become front-runners of the show.
Much like the familiar reality show set up, every week a contestant stands on the stage and tries to convince both the audience and the judges that they are the best person to decipher Palestine's problems. They reveal how they would deal with the corrosive issue of settlements, their position on the death penalty and offer ideas for jump starting the stagnant economy.
In 2011, it was handed out to keep protestors in Tahrir Square going as they demonstrated against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30 year rule; since 1950 Abou Tarek's downtown restaurant, which serves up huge bowlfuls of the dish to four floors of customers in Cairo, has been one of the city's landmarks and has attracted vast media attention.
Nadar Khallaf lays out colourful cards in the centre of the circle and asks each of the 12 young men surrounding him to pick two of them. A member of the group chooses one depicting a figure wearing a white blindfold, set against a red background. "This picture reminds me of the day I was taken from home. They took me to the jeep and blindfolded me. Then they took me inside. The moment I saw it, I remembered when they blindfolded me," he explains to the others.