Sport should not be used to gloss over political failures in Israeli-Palestine conflict

FC Barcelona’s club motto of “More Than A Club” has been shamelessly exploited by a government that seems keen to engage in a PR move to boost its own image than deliver real, long lasting peace.

The recent announcement that FC Barcelona will play in a “bridge-building” game in Israel on the 31^st of July in the Raman Gan stadium against a team including Israeli and Palestinian players seems, on the surface of it, a match that can celebrate the uniting factor of sport bringing warring communities together; individuals from two groups coming collectively to watch a team widely regarded as one of the finest of all time.

It remains to be seen what squad would be assembled from Barcelona to take to the Middle East but hopes are resting on the inclusion of the world’s number one player, Lionel Messi, to be part of the playing delegation.

It is not the first time sport has been dragged into delivering a temporary feel-good factor to help blind the world that any political problems exist but the environment that this match will be played in reeks of opportunism.

As the match is months away, it is difficult to ascertain how fairness will occur in the build up of the match, as this is being seen as a “peace” game.

Firstly, the match takes place in the Raman Gan stadium, which is located in Tel-Aviv and has a capacity of 41,583 but just as the players will be combined from Israelis and Palestinians, will the crowd also be? Will Palestinians in the West Bank and even Gaza be given the opportunity of free tickets to go and watch Barcelona? There certainly wouldn’t be a shortage of interest, as there is clearly a huge appreciation for the Catalans even in Gaza.

Barcelona’s president Sandro Rosell will visit the West Bank to meet the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today to clarify the inclusion of Palestinian players. Sadly, there is no confirmation if he will visit Gaza (highly unlikely) where a trip, despite current hardship, would provide a tremendous distraction for the Gaza Barcelona fans to show their visceral support for the four-time Champions League winners.

The Israeli governments fierce opposition to Hamas, which governs Gaza means that the wishful trip there by Rosell is unlikely to happen but surely this contradicts the theme of the match – “bridge building” – if Gazans are not included or invited to the party.

Whilst everyone enjoys the footballing spectacle of Messi and his wonderfully elegant team-mates gracing Tel-Aviv, the supporters of Gaza will be lucky if they get a chance to watch the match on their TV screens, never mind in person.

In fact, they’ve never even witnessed the Israeli and Palestinian national teams compete against each other (due to differing organisations both teams are involved in) and Rosell, only primed in dealing with footballing matters will have to adorn a political mask in trying to persuade Abbas to agree to Palestinian players and coaches to be involved.

Even that will be a task. For as long as two of Palestine’s national players (Omar Abu-Rois and Ramallah player Mohammed Nimr) are in Israeli jails without trial and protests about incarcerated Palestinians in Israeli jails getting stronger in the West Bank and Gaza, it remains difficult to conceive that any player of the Palestinian side will be keen to play – even against Barcelona – when their team-mates are in prison.

Five months remain until the match takes place, so a lot could happen in that period. One hopes that Israel will propose a tangible peace initiative by releasing the two Palestinian players and others in a bid to make sure that the match doesn’t end up as one-sided (in terms of player make-up) as it could be if Palestinian players refuse to play.

The reason why I suggested this was nothing more than a PR move by the Israeli government is because history shows that sport can only be a short-term fix to gloss over the political failures.

Cricket in South-Asia is fervently played anywhere where there is a space for stumps, players and a cricket ball. India and Pakistan have engaged in three wars since the Partition of 1947, mixed within all that history are stop-start cricket matches between them that have ended up at times, very passionate and high tempered affairs.

Towards the end of 2012, India hosted Pakistan in a Twenty 20 and one-day international series that was played in a good and competitive spirit.

Fast forward few months later and there were border scuffles between both countries’ armies that included fatalities and thus began the traditional claim and counter-claim on who was to blame. Luckily, it didn’t damage the fragile peace process between them but caused another headache to it. As long as political problems remain, real leadership by politicians is non-existent to get the issues resolved; even sport can’t be a saviour to mend broken bridges.

It won’t be the first time Barcelona has had to place themselves in the middle between the sensitivities of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. On the eve of a Barcelona-Real Madrid “Clasico” match up at the Camp Nou last year, to stem Palestinian anger at the invite of released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, they quickly invited Palestinian footballer Mahmoud al-Sarsak, who had been released from an Israeli jail after three years without charge, who subsequently turned the invitation down.

This puts an unprecedented pressure on Barcelona and sporting teams to get involved in international political games that they have no experience in and are thus forced to slowly to have to appreciate both sides.

It is not only unfair but places an unnecessary strain on these clubs who have enough political manuvering to do within their own clubs, never mind in other areas of the world.

The end goal of this match may seem as one worthy of praise, but the hidden reality behind, is one that smacks of opportunism and the glee of the end result of a PR success by a government that is very difficult to like.