Caught in the Crossfire: The sorry state of Palestinian football

Palestinian children play football on the beach in Gaza

16 July 2014. Four little boys playing football on the beach of Gaza were killed by Israeli strikes. Aged between 9 and 11, they didn’t know what had hit them or why it hit them. They were only playing football. It was a terrifying example of how dangerous it has become to do something as simple as kick a ball about in Palestine.

Throughout history, political and military conflicts all over the world have seen sport get involved and get caught in the crossfire. Football is no different. Ever since the start of mass migration of Jewish people into Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century, life in the Holy Land has not been 'normal' for the native Arabs. It hasn't been easy for them to pursue their favourite pastime - football.

This has nothing to do with them being Arabs: the racist stereotype of unfit and lazy Arabs is washed away by the Palestinian athletes. This is evident when we see that Arabs who live in free and safe environments have been able to do pretty well in the world of football. Moreover, in neighbouring Jordan, Al-Wihdat, the club created and run by descendants of Palestinian refugees, is a powerhouse; apart from dominating the local scene, they have starred in Asia too. Even the Palestinian national team of recent times, having included foreign players of Palestinian origin and having trained and played outside Palestine has done enough to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup.

But within Palestine, for a Palestinian footballer, the prospect of a successful career has always been blocked by a number of obstacles, prominent of which are arrest, imprisonment, border checks, injury and death.

This is nowhere more evident than in Gaza. The Israeli and Egyptian-supported Fatah coup attempt against the elected government of Hamas has resulted in Gaza becoming a mini-prison state of its own, separated from the West Bank and the rest of the world. Today the Israeli blockade against Gaza is propped up by Egypt and Western powers, effectively suffocating the Gazans, stopping the flow of people, money and goods.

Football players in Gaza cannot easily travel to the West Bank and vice versa. As a consequence, the Palestinian national team has suffered heavily. A shortage of players never helps when you're preparing for major games. There have been a number of occasions, when just prior to an important tournament, players have been blocked by Israel from leaving Gaza.

Arbitrary arrests and administrative detention

And then there is the issue of arbitrary arrests and 'administrative detention.' Israel follows a policy of arresting whomsoever it wishes, without any given reason and for an indefinite period of time. Sometimes reasons are given, but usually they are trumped up cases based on purging local affinity for groups such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Consider the case of Mahmoud Sarsak. He is a Palestinian footballer who has appeared for the national team at youth and senior levels. In July 2009, while on his way from Gaza to join his new club in the West Bank, he was arrested by Israeli 'Shin-Bet' (Israel Domestic Security) agents. He was accused of once planting a bomb that injured an Israeli soldier. However, the agency admitted that they could not present enough evidence to incriminate Sarsak for the incident. And yet, Israel did as they've done with many others: they detained him without formal charges for three years.

Sarsak has said that he was mentally and physically tortured while in custody. In 2012, another imprisoned footballer Zakariya Issa died shortly after release from an Israeli prison. In response, Sarsak launched a hunger strike. The case soon attracted global attention. Organisations such as Amnesty international, FIFA and FIFPro, the international footballers union, campaigned for his release.

Finally, 97 days after he began his hunger strike, Sarsak ended it after he was assured of a release from prison. He had lost half of his earlier weight. Although Sarsak arrived home to a great welcome, the condition of footballers in Palestine hasn't improved much.

High possibility of injury and even death

Last not but least, the biggest obstacle is that of bodily harm: injury and even death.

Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17, were shot by Israeli soldiers as they were walking home from a training session in al-Ram in the West Bank in January of this year. Doctors doubt if these two will ever walk again. But one thing is for sure: they will never be able to play football again.

During the recent war on Gaza, Palestinian football legend Ahed Zaqout was killed when an Israeli missile hit his house. He was a local celebrity and hero in Gaza and his death took away a part of Gaza's football history.

In the West Bank, teenagers Mohammed Qatari and Udai Jaber had hopes of playing for professional football clubs. But all their dreams and hopes were extinguished after they were killed during separate protests against the Gaza war. They were both only 19.

It is in such a precarious situation, that young aspiring Palestinian footballers step into, hoping to make a mark in football. The tragedy is that the marks are often made somewhere else, sometimes on their bodies or on their minds, leaving them scarred forever and making football a faraway and perhaps scary dream.