Palestinian Solidarity cries foul outside not-so-sweet FA

mini mouse | 24.03.2007 18:30 | Palestine | London

More than sixty activists took up position outside the headquarters of the Football Association in London today in a call for a sporting boycott of "apartheid" Israel.

Activists gather outside the Football Association headquarters in Soho

Memorials to some of the kids killed by the Israeli Defence Force

Many of the protesters were Jewish

The banner says it all

As the England squad takes a shot a Euro 2008 qualification in Tel Aviv tonight they should remember that Palestinian children have been on the receiving end of shots of a far more lethal variety, Children as young as 11 have been variously machine gunned, shot dead by snipers and killed by Israeli artillery shells as they played harmlessly on makeshift pitches.

(See here:

http://www.btselem.org/english/Statistics/Casualties_Data.asp?Category=13
for a few hundred murdered children)

Meanwhile, according to reports from human rights organisations around the world, abuse at checkpoints and barriers around Palestinian villages continue, echoing - according to Bishop Desmond Tutu, the repressive pass laws he experienced in his native land.

"I've been very distressed on my visit to the Holy Land, it reminded me so much of what happened to us blacks in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about".

Readers with long memories may remember that Palestine failed to qualify in Euro 2006 when Israeli troops refused to let key players travel to a match against Uzbekistan. Although they allowed striker Ziad Al Kourd permission, he returned to find his house had been demolished by the army in his absence.

South Africa's regime was brought to its knees by international condemnation expressed through sporting boycotts and sanctions. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign seeks to encourage similar international action against Israel, starting with this and the home match against Israel later this year. Meanwhile the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign (

http://www.bigcampaign.org) encourages shoppers to identify and reject Israeli goods.

"With your support" reads their flyer "we can help Israel realise what most white South Africans do now, that a life built on the advantage of prejudice and force of arms has no future.

"Life, like football, is best played fair".

mini mouse

Additions

Audio from the demo

25.03.2007 10:36

Download: FA protest - mp3 5.6M

Radio piece to be played on Indymedia Global Report on Resonance 104.4fm on Monday, 26th March, 2007 between 22h30 and 23h30. Also available at that time on resonancefm.com

ftp

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

Good plan....

24.03.2007 22:13

...but why single out racism as the only crime that justifies expulsion? How about other teams are banned for their natons human rights abuses as a whole. The treatment of women for instance. Any state that abuses human rights should be boycotted.

Paul Rodgers

Radio

25.03.2007 18:21

Who was that crazy woman on the radio...........making stuff up, the game was for the Euro 2008 not the world cup and any game with Qatar which the Palesinians did or did not play surely was not a decider to actually qualify for any world cup.

And of course no mention of the fans (jews) unable to attend any Israel game beacuse they have been injured by Palestinains; or do they not count?

rebbe

response to Rebbe

26.03.2007 17:05

"Who was that crazy woman on the radio...........making stuff up, the game was for the Euro 2008 not the world cup"

firstly the mistake about the world cup rather than Euro 2008 was mine - thats why it it was in my voice......

Secondly, as she said, she is a campaigner with J-BIG

"and any game with Qatar which the Palesinians did or did not play surely was not a decider to actually qualify for any world cup."

Well, now the mistake is yours, not hers.

The Palestinian team is forced to play in Qatar because Palestine is still occupied. The qualifier was against Uzbekistan.

As the IHT reported:

"However, Israel last week prevented a Palestinian team from traveling with a full team to play Uzbekistan in World Cup qualification.

The match, a "home" tie for the Palestinians, but played in Qatar because of security, was lost 0-3, by the Palestinians. Their soccer federation complained that "every day, five of our players would come to the border only to be sent back." Israel reportedly said the reason was "general security alert" and when the Palestinians asked FIFA to "stop Israel mixing politics with sports," the Palestinian federation claims that FIFA requested it to "cooperate and play the game." Fair Play is FIFA's slogan. Fair and free playing pitches are not available in the Middle East. "

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/09/15/soccer_ed3__8.php

"And of course no mention of the fans (jews) unable to attend any Israel game beacuse they have been injured by Palestinains; or do they not count?"

Ha ha if you're suggesting that suicide bombs (when was the last one btw? ) only affect jews. The evidence suggests that they're pretty indiscriminate.

I'm presuming as well that you're not referring to occupying soldiers who got injured in the course of duty.... so why not?

My guess as to why they weren't mentioned by the interviewee is that she made the assertion that Israel is responsible for the occupation. If you dispute that, you're clearly a bit deluded.

At least you aren't against mixing politics with football......

Finally, heres an indymedia.ie report for you to enjoy:

http://indymedia.ie/article/70269?print_page=true

ftp