Israel Releases Player, Protests Continue

Palestinian soccer player Mahmoud Al-Sarsak (L) is greeted upon his arrival in Gaza City July 10, 2012. Israel released the Gaza soccer player on Tuesday in a deal to end his intermittent four-month hunger strike after he spent three years behind bars without being put on trial, officials said.


“I thank God and all the athletes in the world,” Mahmoud Sarsak told a Ma’an reporter as he was transferred to Shifa hospital in Gaza City for medical attention after being released in a “rapturous welcome” to relatives who were gathered in great celebration at the Palestinian side of the Israeli Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Tuesday. ESPN reports that “Islamic militants” fired rifles in the air in a rousing homecoming for a beloved member of the Palestinian national soccer team who was released by Israel after being held for three years in prison without charge, trial, or contact with his family.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, American author Alice Walker and others had chimed in to support his release. Sarsak, the jailed Gazan soccer star, freed on July 10, 2012 due to massive international attention, had been detained on his way to a national team match on the West Bank in 2009. While participating in a hunger strike by 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, Sarkar lost almost half of his body weight.

Shuaib Ahmed commented in the Morning Bark that “the world remains, as it always has been – hesitatingly observant.”

The Palestinian plight was brought to world attention by the campaign to free Sarsak. Palestinian National Team players are often blocked at checkpoints, jailed, or even killed. Sarkar’s arrest was part of a broader effort to degrade his “national team without a nation.”

British comedian Mark Steel joked in the UK’s Independent that the Palestinians “were employing that old terrorist tactic of becoming the national football team, then qualifying for the World Cup finals from where it’s a simple step to start an insurrection.”

Energetic protesters in the stands in Scotland added to the 8-0 humiliation of the Israeli national women’s team in a European championship match on June 17. The Israeli national anthem was also booed before kick-off. In Wales, Israel lost 5-0, and in France, protesters actually invaded the pitch to pressure Israel regarding Sarkar’s life.

An Israeli Embassy functionary responded that Sarsak was a terrorist and that calling him a “young Palestinian footballer” was “insulting to footballers.”

FIFPro, the international federation of professional footballers, stated that no other Palestinian footballers should have to go through what Sarsak has experienced. Yet there are two other Palestinian football stars held in indefinite detention, prevented from playing for Palestine.

President of the Palestinian Football Association, Jabril Rajoub, asked UEFA president Michel Platini to remember Olympic squad goalkeeper Omar Abu Rois and Ramallah player Mohammed Nimr, detained without charge by Israel.

“For athletes in Palestine, there is no real freedom of movement and the risks of being detained or even killed are always looming before their eyes.” Since Israel is in “direct violation of FIFA regulations and the International Olympic Charter,” Rajoub implored, “we ask Your Excellency to not give Israel the honour to host the next UEFA Under-21 Championship 2013.”

A similar plea was sent by 42 Palestinian football clubs based in Gaza, home to many of the world’s best football players.
Platini continues to ignore requests from concerned citizens, stating, “We cannot hold the Israeli Football Association responsible for the political situation in the region or for legal procedures in place in its country.”

What I want to understand is, if you knew that your country imprisoned a fellow athlete, how could you play for your country? I mean, given the obviousness of the treachery your playing would imply. How could any Israeli footballer, in good conscience, agree to play under these circumstances? And if you were an Israeli that chose to play, how should we look at you? Should we applaud your gains and cry for your losses, knowing that you didn’t care about simple obvious human rights issues regarding fellow players living close to you? Why are the Israeli teams not refusing to play another game? I would, if I were them.

For an explanation, let us look at the recent past.

In June, 2012, 12 year old Gazan Mamoun Hassouna was killed while playing football.

In 2011 Palestinian players flying in from a game in Thailand were prevented entry into the West Bank. Mohammed Samara and right back Majed Abusidu therefore missed the return game at home five days later.

In 2010, Gaza and West Bank winners had to postpone their cup final because the Gazan team was refused permission to travel. Also that year, Israel refused to allow six members of the Palestinian national team to travel from Gaza to Jordan for a match against Mauritania.

Ahmed Keshkesh was prevented from returning home for months.

During Operation Cast Lead in winter 2008-9, Israel was responsible for leveling much of Gaza including the Rafah National Stadium, and killing football players Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshate, as well as over 1400 other citizens.

In May 2008, the national team was not able to attend the AFC Challenge Cup, denying them qualification for the 2011 Asia Cup.

In 2006, Israeli missiles destroyed Gaza’s only football stadium.

Palestine had reached the top of their group in the qualifying rounds for the 2006 World Cup. They failed to qualify after the Israeli authorities refused permission for five key players to travel to a match against Uzbekistan in Qatar on September 7, 2005.

In 2005, while playing football, Ashraf Samir Ahmad Mussa and Khaled Fuad Sahker Ghanam, and Hassan Ahmad Khalil Abu Zeid, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.

There are countless other such incidents. None of that is really news, just banality of evil. What is news is that international pressure freed one Palestinian prisoner. Dave Zirin reports in the Nation: “Not only does Sarsak live but the movement lives as well. It’s been strengthened by Sarsak’s survival and the revelation for many that the thankless, frustrating and often devastating work of international solidarity with political prisoners can actually work.”

Palestinian Soccer Player Nears Death

While President Obama awarded Israeli president Shimon Perez with a medal last week, world outrage about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has escalated exponentially as professional footballer Mahmoud al Sarsak nears death from his hunger strike of over 90 days in protest of his illegal incarceration. Thousands of other Palestinian prisoners, including 20 children, have joined his hunger strike. Despite a media blackout, the word has been spreading globally through Facebook and Twitter.

With Sarsak, Akram Al-Rikhawi, a prisoner for 8 years on his 57th day of hunger strike, wrote in a letter to the world: “This is an urgent and final distress call from captivity, slow and programmed death inside the cells of so-called Ramle Prison hospital, that you know that your sons and brothers are still struggling against death and you pay no attention to them and do not remember their cause…You are the ones able to support us for victory in our battle.”

Sarsak, a 25 year old from Rafah, in Gaza, was arrested at a checkpoint while on his way to the West Bank to play with the Palestinian national team in 2009. Since then, he has been detained without charge or trial, and has not been allowed to see his family.

He is being held under the Unlawful Combatant Law, which allows Israel to detain Palestinians from Gaza indefinitely without charge or criminal proceedings being brought to court. As with every other Palestinian prisoner held by Israel, Mahmoud was transferred to a prison outside of the Occupied Territories. This is illegal under Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of prisoners from an occupied territory to that of the occupying state. 2,000 prisoners, according to Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer, are held as administrative detainees without a chance of trial.

UN Special Envoy to the Occupied Territories, Richard Falk, has called for the 25 year old’s release, saying that ‘he has suffered immensely.’ Sarkar has lost 33 percent of his body weight. After three months without food, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel issued a warning that he could die at any moment.

There are huge demonstrations expected in Scotland on Saturday, where Israel’s women’s soccer team is to play against Scotland. Mick Napier, chairman of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), explains: “There should be no business as usual for Israel’s national teams while Israel denies Palestinians the same privileges.”

Meanwhile, dozens of professional athletes have been rallying to Sarsak’s cause, sending out twitters to fans. “In the name of sporting solidarity, justice and human rights, we declare our support for Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak. As European sportsmen, we believe that every person has the right to a fair and independent trial,” wrote Marcelo del Pozo, an Argentinian player for Spain.

Seville striker Frédéric Kanouté posted on his website: “In the name of civil liberties, justice, and basic human rights, we call for the release of Mahmoud Sarsak.” Kanouté gained international fame when he lifted his team jersey to reveal a shirt with the word “Palestine”after scoring a goal during a league match at the height of Israel’s January 2009 attack on Gaza, an action for which he was fined $4,000.

Other supporters include Nicolas Anelka, former player for Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Real Madrid, and French sailor Jo Le Guen. Prominent figures such as former France and Manchester United midfielder Eric Cantona, film director Ken Loach and American philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky have urged Israeli authorities to release Sarsak. Protests under the banner “Let Sarsak Live” took place in London’s Trafalgar Square last week to raise awareness of his ordeal. In a letter to The Guardian, former UK Member of Parliament John Austin called on the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to “reconsider its decision to hold its under-21 championship in Israel in 2013.”

Amnesty International also proclaimed that Sarsak, “who is at risk of death after more than 90 days on hunger strike in protest against his detention by Israel should immediately be admitted to a civilian hospital or released so that he can receive life-saving medical care.”

Philippe Piat, vice-president of FIFPro, the global organization which represents professional footballers said, “freedom of movement is a fundamental right of every citizen. It is also written down in the FIFA Regulations that players must be allowed to play for the national team of their country. But actually for some footballers it is impossible to defend the colors of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot visit their family. They are locked up. This is an injustice.’

As the Israeli Asaf Harofe Hospital announced that Sarkar’s death could come within hours, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) became heavily involved in pressing the Israelis for Sarsak’s release. On June 20, Mahmoud Sarsak rejected an offer from negotiators and lawyers to be released to Norway or Sweden.

Mahmoud wants to be free to go to his home in the Gaza Strip only.

Gaza TV News reported on June 21: “After 91 days on Hunger Strike, Mahmoud Sarsak is to be released on July 17th. We will post further news as it reaches us.” This report has not yet been confirmed, so it is vital that the public continue writing letters and making phone calls of support.