WRMEA, August 2010, Page 60

Waging Peace

Gaza Holds Its Own World Cup

“France” wins Gaza World Cup in the final game against “Jordan.” (Photo Courtesy Gaza World Cup)

A SYMBOLIC World Cup tournament was held at the Gaza Strip's Palestine Sports Stadium for the besieged Gazans, who were not permitted to send a team to South Africa. The two-week tournament kicked off May 3 with a match between Italy and Palestine. Italy won 1-0. The final match took place on May 15, as Palestinians worldwide commemorated the Nakba, or catastrophe, that befell them 62 years ago.

Organizers said the tournament was intended to highlight the situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade for three years, and to mark the 15 months since the end of Israel's three-week military offensive in 2008-09.

The idea for the Gaza World Cup came to an American, Patrick McGann, and a Gazan, Ashraf Mohammed Hamad, who both work for University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) and started playing football together on campus. Their games grew into weekly matches between locals and foreigners.

"We wanted to tell the world that Gazans are playing their favorite game despite the siege and suffering," said Ibrahim Abu Salim, deputy director of the Palestinian Football Union.

Sponsors included the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), Sharek Youth Forum, the Mashareq printing house, Pepsi, and the Bank of Palestine. Some 16 Gaza-based Palestinian soccer clubs, each representing a different country, took part in the tournament. Every player wore a uniform from the country he represented, bearing the name of one of the players in the international squad. England, for example, was represented by the Rafah Sports Club from the southern Strip, while the al-Sadaqa (Friendship) Sports Club from Jabalya refugee camp in the north of the enclave represented Ireland. Each team included two foreign players, drawn from aid workers and activists in the Gaza Strip.

In a thrilling match with Jordan (a football club from Khan Younis), France (also represented by a team from Rafah) won the First Gaza World Cup—a trophy constructed out of melted shrapnel and iron recovered from the debris of homes destroyed during the Israeli attack. McGann said he hoped the tournament would "show the world that Gaza is not a bad place and...sealing it off behind walls is not the way to solve a problem...If the world could see this side of Gaza—the beautiful side through the power of sport—then perhaps, just perhaps, the world could start talking to the people here." For more information visit <www.gazaworldcup.com>.

—Ali Mahmoud