A Christian Palestinian has risen to victory in the hugely popular Middle East singing contest Arab Idol.

The streets of Bethlehem were packed with thousands on Saturday night who gathered to see the victory of Yacoub Shaheen on Arab Idol, as the Washington Post reports.

Shaheen is a Palestinian Christian who is also a member of Bethlehem's tight community of Christian Assyrians. When he was named as the victor, Shaheen sang a patriotic song while draped in a Palestinian flag.

'My pledge and my oath, my blood is Palestinian', he sang.

Arab Idol is shown on Dubai channel MBC1, and is an offshoot from the British show Pop Idol and its US counterpart, American Idol. It began in November and follows the journey of its singing contestants as they seek to win the approval of voting viewers at home.

Bethlehem's streets were filled with cheering, Palestinian flag-waving supporters in their thousands, packing out the city's coffee shops and sheesha cafes.

Crowds poured into Manger Square in Bethlehem, where a giant screen displayed the final, which was filmed in Lebanon. Manger Square is the courtyard that lies before the Church of the Nativity, the World Heritage Site built on what is traditionally believed to be the original site of Jesus' birth.Bthele

Additional reporting by Reuters