Tournament lifts mood in Gaza as first match kicks off

IRELAND BEAT England 2-1 yesterday in Gaza’s world cup soccer tournament. Thousands of cheering fans filled Palestine stadium in Gaza City to inspire the mixed teams of human rights workers, educators, journalists, diplomats and Palestinian players from the numerous clubs in the coastal enclaves.

Aidan O’Leary, deputy director of operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency, made the pass for Ireland’s first goal.

In Sunday’s opening game, Italy defeated Palestine 1-0 before a crowd of 5,000 while Russia beat the Netherlands 4-1 yesterday.

The tournament is set to conclude on May 15th, the 62nd anniversary of Israel’s independence and of the Palestinian naqba, which transformed two-thirds of Palestinians into refugees.

Gaza’s hand-crafted trophy is made of rubble and twisted metal collected from the ruins of buildings destroyed in Israel’s 2009 war on the strip.

Sixteen teams are taking part: Palestine, Ireland, England, Turkey, the US, Italy Russia, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Spain, Serbia, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Jordan.

About 400 players are participating, half of them Gazans from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and half from other countries – some on teams representing their home countries. The rest are “misfits playing against the occupation”, observed Patrick McGrann, an Irish-American from Minnesota who took the field on the Irish team. He and Ashraf Hamad, a friend and colleague from Gaza, organised the tournament.

First, they had to secure the co-operation of Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Fatah, which administers Palestinian enclaves on the West Bank. McGrann said the push for the tournament helped to revive the formerly Fatah-controlled PFA, suspended when Hamas took over Gaza in 2007.

The world cup, which the organisers were determined to keep non-political, has been warmly welcomed by local teams sponsored by both Hamas and Fatah. Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who once managed a team and occasionally plays a match, has, so far, kept his distance but his son turned up for the inaugural game.

The tournament received backing from the UN Development Programme, the Palestine Bank, Pepsi and McGrann’s own Kitegang non-governmental organisation which trains people in conflict-ridden countries to make kites and toys. Fifa, the sport’s worldwide governing body, has also given its blessing.

While Palestine has a low rating, Gaza’s players were the best until Israel’s siege locked them into the strip after Hamas took control in 2007.

As Gaza’s world cup kicked off, a list of 81 items which Israel allows into the strip has been made public, thanks to a legal challenge mounted by Israeli human rights groups. They asked why children’s toys, chocolate, jam and building materials are forbidden on grounds of Israeli national security.

The United Nations has described Israel’s blockade as “collective punishment”, illegal under international law.