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Imagine the outcry if Shay Given was on Hunger Strike for 89 days?

Would there be an outcry from the football world as the Euro championship starts this week?

You bet there would.

However, a member of the Palestinian national football team has today started his 78th day on Hunger Strike in protest at been held under "Administrative Detention" (Internment without trial)

Mahmoud Sarsak, a member of the Palestine national team, was on his way from his home in Gaza to a match in the West Bank when he was arrested in 2009. Despite travelling with the correct paperwork, he was arrested and to this day, has been held without trial or charge by Israel.

In protest at his illegal detention, he embarked on a Hunger Strike.

So, as the Euro's begin, imagine the outcry if Shay Given was arrested at the border en route from his home in Donegal to a match in Dublin and held for 3 years without any charge or trial?

Would there be an international outcry?

I see Israel has been awarded the hosting of the UEFA Under 21s football championship in 2013

Quote from: give her dixie on June 04, 2012, 03:02:03 AM
Imagine the outcry if Shay Given was on Hunger Strike for 78 days?

Would there be an outcry from the football world as the Euro championship starts this week?

You bet there would.

However, a member of the Palestinian national football team has today started his 78th day on Hunger Strike in protest at been held under "Administrative Detention" (Internment without trial)

Mahmoud Sarsak, a member of the Palestine national team, was on his way from his home in Gaza to a match in the West Bank when he was arrested in 2009. Despite travelling with the correct paperwork, he was arrested and to this day, has been held without trial or charge by Israel.

In protest at his illegal detention, he embarked on a Hunger Strike.

So, as the Euro's begin, imagine the outcry if Shay Given was arrested at the border en route from his home in Donegal to a match in Dublin and held for 3 years without any charge or trial?

Would there be an international outcry?

It's a mess, giveherdixie.

This is the liberal Israeli Jewish  view of the way things are going
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/weekly_ad/1338492210


It is permissible
To kill gentile children
Who might hurt Jews
When they grow up -
So wrote rabbis in a book

The (Israeli) Attorney General ruled:
This is not incitement,
This is the Halacha (jewish holy law) .

No anti-Semite
Would dare today
To defame Judaism
So blatantly!

IS there a Palestinian Olympic team?

'Don't wait until we're in body bags': Two Palestinian hunger strikers' "final distress call"

Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi who have been on hunger strike for 78 and 59 days respectively issued the following urgent distress call from Israel's Ramle prison today.

The message of prisoners Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi from inside prison



In the name of God the Compassionate and Merciful...

To the masses of Palestine, who cling to the land, who grip as if to hot coals, to all the revolutionaries and freedom loving people in the world who stood by our cause and our victory throughout history; To those who always extended to us their steadfastness and fortitude in the face of adversity, our fellow Arabs and Muslims, and freedom loving people of the world;

To the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin), and to the the brother Minister of Prisoner and Ex-Prisoner Affairs Mr. Issa Qaraqe, and to the honorable freedom fighter Qaddoura Faris, president of the Prisoners' Club, and to national and Islamic parties and movements:

This is an urgent and final distress call from captivity, slow and programmed death inside the cells of so-called Ramle Prison hospital, that you know that your sons and brothers are still struggling against death and you pay no attention to them and do not remember their cause – as if, after the end of the general strike all the demands of the prisoners were met.

We are still here, continuing our open-ended hunger strike and that battle has not ended despite 78 days of strike for one of us, and 59 days for the other.

Regretfully, we thought that you would support us in our hunger strike, but instead you have stood on our wounds and our pain.

From here, we cry out to you, to our brothers, to dignified people, that you bear your responsibility, for after God, we have no one but you and the freedom loving people of the world to bring victory to our cause.


A poster of Mahmoud Sarsak, and some of his athletic trophies.  (Rami Almeghari / The Electronic Intifada)
Second: As the hunger strike continues to erode our bodies and sap what is left of our strength, we cry out to you to help us in our battle on every level and field, local, regional and international, especially in the media, and especially Palestinian television which represents the Palestinian people.

And also in the newspapers, radio and electronic media, so that our voices can reach the freedom loving people of the world and expose this entity, and for the victory of our cause.

We say: there is still enough time and the support that comes late is better than that which does not come at all. It is better that you receive us alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black bags.

Therefore we two hunger strikers remain on our strike, Mahmoud Sarsak who has endured 78 days, and Sheikh Akram Rikhawi who has endured 59 days and was already ill, having spent 8 years in Ramle Prison clinic suffering from illnesses, and who now struggles against death.

We inform you that we will remain on our strike until all our demands are met and we will not submit to the demands of the Prison Service regardless of what we suffer in restrictions, provocations, and bargaining, and we will not accept promises and half-measures despite the deterioration of our health and our entry into difficult and dangerous situations, especially since we have lost more than 25kg and 18kg.

Our people, our leaders in Gaza, in the West Bank and outside, and freedom loving people of the world, we cry out to you, and to all people in the world who believe in the justice of our cause: do not abandon us to the vindictive hands of the jailers to take what they want from our frail bodies.

You are the ones able to support us for victory in our battle.

Your brothers who remain on hunger strike until victory or martrydom,

Mahmoud Sarsak
Akram Rikhawi

What can we do Dixie? Do you have names and addresses we can write to? Is there more than that?

Saw this on a Celtic forum. A letter from a Palestinian group to the Green Brigade thanking them for support for the hunger strikers. Just thought I would share  :)

http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress...ir-solidarity/

On the 13th of May, as the 'deal' to end the mass Palestinian hunger strike was about to emerge from the rumour-mill, far away from Palestine in Scotland's biggest city Glasgow, a display of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers was done supporters of Celtic Football Club. This was the final game of the season when Celtic were given the league trophy and crowned Scottish Football Champions and amid all the displays, colour, noise and party atmosphere a flurry of Palestine flags and a banner reading "Dignity is more precious than food" appeared in one particular corner section of the stadium.



This was the 111 section, home of the Green Brigade an ultras group formed in 2006 in rejection of the modern corporate games reducing football fans to mere silent and compliant consumers. The political footing of the group is left-wing, anti-racist,anti-fascist and anti-sectarian. Celtic football club was formed in 1888 by immigrant Irish and has since become to symbolise the Irish heritage of the large Irish diaspora in West Scotland who faced the best part of a century of religious discrimination. The Green Brigade have come under fire for continuing the tradition of Celtic fans giving vocal support for Irish Republican resistance to the British presence in Ireland as well their opposition to any association between the club and the British army's wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.


This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 710x473 and weights 95KB.

Despite this day including some quite elaborate displays, the Green Brigade still marked the day with their display of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger Strikers, they very rarely make any form of public statement about their political actions but agreed to once the impact of what they felt were very modest actions became clear.

We did this in solidarity, to raise awareness and because it's the right thing to do.

We want Palestinians to know we are thinking about them and encourage Scottish civil society to look at the injustice in Palestine. The Western media ignores the struggle so we felt we had to at least try and highlight the issue. Its hard to explain the feelings when hear of the actions undertaken by Palestinian prisoners or the oppression of Israeli State. All we can say that there is no greater sacrifice than to be willing to hunger strike until death for justice.

Solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Until The Last Rebel.

Palestine activists here in Scotland helped make sure the Palestinian activists we knew saw them via social media and within few days the images had went viral via twitter & facebook and many Palestinian expressed their gratitude, while the Green Brigade were for the most part unaware of the great impact their actions had.

With the aims of making the Green Brigade fully aware of how much their solidarity action was appreciated, to foster interaction between Palestinian youth and their international supporters and to facilitate the wish of Palestinians to express their thanks the idea grew that some sort of statement should be written for Palestinian youth activists to sign. This is all the more timely as largely unknown to the world, 4 Palestinians remain on hunger strike including the Footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, arrested 3 years ago on his way to play for the Palestinian national team and held since with no charge or trial. Mahmoud a refugee living in Rafah Camp in Gaza is now on (at the time of writing) his 68th day of hunger strike and while there is no football for him the Israeli Women's U21 team will play a match in Scotland on June 16th and Israel will host the UEFA 2013 U23 tournament. It is hoped that the actions of the Green Brigade and a response from the Palestinians that highlight the role these type of actions have may lead to supporters of human rights in Scotland and Europe to question the morality and ethical soundness of bodies such as the Scottish Football Association and UEFA treating Israel as a normal state rather than the apartheid state that it is and should be sanctioned as.

The response from the Palestinian Youth statement has been quite emphatic with almost 100 Palestinian Youth activists from the occupied West Bank & Gaza, '48 and forced exile, from the refugee camps, popular committees and Palestinian NGO's have signed the statement.

The Statement
Dear Green Brigade comrades,

As our free prisoners were fighting with "empty stomachs" battle in the dungeons of the Zionist regime, we outside prisons were protesting on streets, taking our part in the fight. Our decades old fight has been of ups and downs. At times, we feel frustrations witnessing the world being indifferent. At other times, we felt hope.

We watched as the Green Brigades supported our just cause and our prisoners' hunger strike. And this was one of the times of hope. We can't thank you enough. Your action gave us strength here. Photos and videos of your support were circulated between us in Palestine widely. And we knew not to expect any less from our Irish-Scottish comrades.
The Scottish, "the last of the free", has a history of survival. They have a history of fighting for their freedom and dignity and not giving up for any less. It is true that injustice anywhere in the world is a threat to justice everywhere in the world. But it is also true that free people anywhere inspire free people everywhere. The history of the Scottish people is a history of free people who did not bow to the Roman walls. And with your proud Irish roots, this makes you part of our struggle.

Every Palestinian youth look up to the Irish struggle. No one, better than an Irish, would understand the Apartheid wall that divides our land. No one, better than an Irish, would understand settlers taking over our lands. No one, better than an Irish, would understand the meaning of fighting occupation and sacrificing oneself. No one, better than an Irish, would understand what fighting with empty stomachs inside prisons means. Needless to say, the struggle of Bobby Sand and his comrades has inspired us.

Many parts of Scotland & Ireland became 'Apartheid free-zones'
in the past. Your support to the South African struggle led the way to the fall of the exclusively-white Apartheid regime. We believe you will repeat history again and will lead Glasgow to be an Apartheid free-zone once again. And will lead the way to the fall of the Zionist Apartheid regime.

Our fight is far from over. We will keep up our fight until freedom, equality and full right of return for our refugees.
Green Brigade comrades, I once again would love to express our deep gratitude and appreciation. Your support makes us stronger.

Thank you!

Yara Abbas

Areej Mawasi

Alaa Mawasi

Salma Mawasi

Fajr Harb

Amany Khalefa

Maath Musleh

Nader Elkhuzundar

Lama Saqr

Hosam Saqr

Osama Saqr

Riman Saqr

Ahmad Nimer

Abir Kopty

Ebaa Rezeq

Sari Harb

Linah AlSaafin

Shifaa AlKhatib

Hurriyah Ziada (sibling of a prisoner)

Raya Ziada (sibling of a prisoner)

Samer Sharif (sibling of a prisoner)

Beesan Ramadan

Hala Turjman

Wassim Ghantous

Mohammed Lotfi Yousif

Marwan Mahmoud Fararja

Majde Mostafa Abu Aker

Ahmed Eaid Mohammed

Mohammed Saleh

Nancy Alitabi

Ra'fat Riyad Malash

Layan Nidal Alazzeh

Nabil Abed Alazez

Mohammed Alameer

Shadi Al Barmil

Ammar Mostafa

Jehad Abu A'oda

Mohammed Basim Abu Sror

Khalid Walid Alazza

Mostafa A'oad Alaraj

Salah Ajarma

Daoud Qasim

Sabreen Mohamoud Asad

Hanin Monther Alaraj

Samer Ibrahim Awais

Ahmad Lotfi Ahmad Yousif

Mahmoud Ya'qob Hammad

Fadi Mohammed Nasrallah

Jamal Jamil Ikhlayil

Mohammed Nidal Abu Aker

Mohammed Qasim Alazraq

Kefah Ahmad Alajarma

Faris Shomali

Kifah Quzmar

Nisreen Abu-hunaina

Jalal Najjar

Faten Abu.Sway

Adi Akawi

Lena Awad

Fadi Farwaji

Anan Quzmar

Ismat Quzmar

Lina Hegazi

Sari Harb

Fajr Harb

Diana Alzee

Bassel Araj

Badia Dwaik

Issa Amro

Nadeem Sharabati

Azat alkarki

Tamer Altrash

Imad Altrash

Adeeb Dwaik

Raed Atrash

Sounds Alazeh

Hashem Ayoup

Ashraf Amro

Ahmad Amro

Akram Natsheh

Sameer Khrishah

Salsbeel Dwaik

Najla Jabri

Mohamed Alzgher

Mohamed Altrash

Shada Alhadad

Heba Bader

Suheir Alsharawi

Quote from: ONeill on June 04, 2012, 09:15:10 AM
I see Israel has been awarded the hosting of the UEFA Under 21s football championship in 2013

EUFA must have a death wish for it's young players, why the hell would they take an international tournament to Israel at this time? In my opinion they are endangering the players and coaches.

Quote from: Forever Green on June 04, 2012, 07:41:38 PM
Saw this on a Celtic forum. A letter from a Palestinian group to the Green Brigade thanking them for support for the hunger strikers. Just thought I would share  :)

http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress...ir-solidarity/

On the 13th of May, as the 'deal' to end the mass Palestinian hunger strike was about to emerge from the rumour-mill, far away from Palestine in Scotland's biggest city Glasgow, a display of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers was done supporters of Celtic Football Club. This was the final game of the season when Celtic were given the league trophy and crowned Scottish Football Champions and amid all the displays, colour, noise and party atmosphere a flurry of Palestine flags and a banner reading "Dignity is more precious than food" appeared in one particular corner section of the stadium.



This was the 111 section, home of the Green Brigade an ultras group formed in 2006 in rejection of the modern corporate games reducing football fans to mere silent and compliant consumers. The political footing of the group is left-wing, anti-racist,anti-fascist and anti-sectarian. Celtic football club was formed in 1888 by immigrant Irish and has since become to symbolise the Irish heritage of the large Irish diaspora in West Scotland who faced the best part of a century of religious discrimination. The Green Brigade have come under fire for continuing the tradition of Celtic fans giving vocal support for Irish Republican resistance to the British presence in Ireland as well their opposition to any association between the club and the British army's wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.


This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 710x473 and weights 95KB.

Despite this day including some quite elaborate displays, the Green Brigade still marked the day with their display of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger Strikers, they very rarely make any form of public statement about their political actions but agreed to once the impact of what they felt were very modest actions became clear.

We did this in solidarity, to raise awareness and because it's the right thing to do.

We want Palestinians to know we are thinking about them and encourage Scottish civil society to look at the injustice in Palestine. The Western media ignores the struggle so we felt we had to at least try and highlight the issue. Its hard to explain the feelings when hear of the actions undertaken by Palestinian prisoners or the oppression of Israeli State. All we can say that there is no greater sacrifice than to be willing to hunger strike until death for justice.

Solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Until The Last Rebel.

Palestine activists here in Scotland helped make sure the Palestinian activists we knew saw them via social media and within few days the images had went viral via twitter & facebook and many Palestinian expressed their gratitude, while the Green Brigade were for the most part unaware of the great impact their actions had.

With the aims of making the Green Brigade fully aware of how much their solidarity action was appreciated, to foster interaction between Palestinian youth and their international supporters and to facilitate the wish of Palestinians to express their thanks the idea grew that some sort of statement should be written for Palestinian youth activists to sign. This is all the more timely as largely unknown to the world, 4 Palestinians remain on hunger strike including the Footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, arrested 3 years ago on his way to play for the Palestinian national team and held since with no charge or trial. Mahmoud a refugee living in Rafah Camp in Gaza is now on (at the time of writing) his 68th day of hunger strike and while there is no football for him the Israeli Women's U21 team will play a match in Scotland on June 16th and Israel will host the UEFA 2013 U23 tournament. It is hoped that the actions of the Green Brigade and a response from the Palestinians that highlight the role these type of actions have may lead to supporters of human rights in Scotland and Europe to question the morality and ethical soundness of bodies such as the Scottish Football Association and UEFA treating Israel as a normal state rather than the apartheid state that it is and should be sanctioned as.

The response from the Palestinian Youth statement has been quite emphatic with almost 100 Palestinian Youth activists from the occupied West Bank & Gaza, '48 and forced exile, from the refugee camps, popular committees and Palestinian NGO's have signed the statement.

The Statement
Dear Green Brigade comrades,

As our free prisoners were fighting with "empty stomachs" battle in the dungeons of the Zionist regime, we outside prisons were protesting on streets, taking our part in the fight. Our decades old fight has been of ups and downs. At times, we feel frustrations witnessing the world being indifferent. At other times, we felt hope.

We watched as the Green Brigades supported our just cause and our prisoners' hunger strike. And this was one of the times of hope. We can't thank you enough. Your action gave us strength here. Photos and videos of your support were circulated between us in Palestine widely. And we knew not to expect any less from our Irish-Scottish comrades.
The Scottish, "the last of the free", has a history of survival. They have a history of fighting for their freedom and dignity and not giving up for any less. It is true that injustice anywhere in the world is a threat to justice everywhere in the world. But it is also true that free people anywhere inspire free people everywhere. The history of the Scottish people is a history of free people who did not bow to the Roman walls. And with your proud Irish roots, this makes you part of our struggle.

Every Palestinian youth look up to the Irish struggle. No one, better than an Irish, would understand the Apartheid wall that divides our land. No one, better than an Irish, would understand settlers taking over our lands. No one, better than an Irish, would understand the meaning of fighting occupation and sacrificing oneself. No one, better than an Irish, would understand what fighting with empty stomachs inside prisons means. Needless to say, the struggle of Bobby Sand and his comrades has inspired us.

Many parts of Scotland & Ireland became 'Apartheid free-zones'
in the past. Your support to the South African struggle led the way to the fall of the exclusively-white Apartheid regime. We believe you will repeat history again and will lead Glasgow to be an Apartheid free-zone once again. And will lead the way to the fall of the Zionist Apartheid regime.

Our fight is far from over. We will keep up our fight until freedom, equality and full right of return for our refugees.
Green Brigade comrades, I once again would love to express our deep gratitude and appreciation. Your support makes us stronger.

Thank you!

Yara Abbas

Areej Mawasi

Alaa Mawasi

Salma Mawasi

Fajr Harb

Amany Khalefa

Maath Musleh

Nader Elkhuzundar

Lama Saqr

Hosam Saqr

Osama Saqr

Riman Saqr

Ahmad Nimer

Abir Kopty

Ebaa Rezeq

Sari Harb

Linah AlSaafin

Shifaa AlKhatib

Hurriyah Ziada (sibling of a prisoner)

Raya Ziada (sibling of a prisoner)

Samer Sharif (sibling of a prisoner)

Beesan Ramadan

Hala Turjman

Wassim Ghantous

Mohammed Lotfi Yousif

Marwan Mahmoud Fararja

Majde Mostafa Abu Aker

Ahmed Eaid Mohammed

Mohammed Saleh

Nancy Alitabi

Ra'fat Riyad Malash

Layan Nidal Alazzeh

Nabil Abed Alazez

Mohammed Alameer

Shadi Al Barmil

Ammar Mostafa

Jehad Abu A'oda

Mohammed Basim Abu Sror

Khalid Walid Alazza

Mostafa A'oad Alaraj

Salah Ajarma

Daoud Qasim

Sabreen Mohamoud Asad

Hanin Monther Alaraj

Samer Ibrahim Awais

Ahmad Lotfi Ahmad Yousif

Mahmoud Ya'qob Hammad

Fadi Mohammed Nasrallah

Jamal Jamil Ikhlayil

Mohammed Nidal Abu Aker

Mohammed Qasim Alazraq

Kefah Ahmad Alajarma

Faris Shomali

Kifah Quzmar

Nisreen Abu-hunaina

Jalal Najjar

Faten Abu.Sway

Adi Akawi

Lena Awad

Fadi Farwaji

Anan Quzmar

Ismat Quzmar

Lina Hegazi

Sari Harb

Fajr Harb

Diana Alzee

Bassel Araj

Badia Dwaik

Issa Amro

Nadeem Sharabati

Azat alkarki

Tamer Altrash

Imad Altrash

Adeeb Dwaik

Raed Atrash

Sounds Alazeh

Hashem Ayoup

Ashraf Amro

Ahmad Amro

Akram Natsheh

Sameer Khrishah

Salsbeel Dwaik

Najla Jabri

Mohamed Alzgher

Mohamed Altrash

Shada Alhadad

Heba Bader

Suheir Alsharawi

Very impressive. Can you try putting up the link again?

http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/palestinian-youth-statement-thanks-football-ultras-group-in-scotland-for-their-solidarity/ (http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/palestinian-youth-statement-thanks-football-ultras-group-in-scotland-for-their-solidarity/)

Hopefully that works seafoid

Mahmoud has now entered his 81st day on Hunger Strike.

I put the following article together 2 hours ago, and sent it out to loads of people on Twitter in order to raise awareness of his plight. So far, I have had over 2,000 hits on the story. Hopefully it will bring some attention to his plight.

http://gazatvnews.com/2012/06/irish-goalkeeper-shay-given-kidnapped-now-on-hunger-strike/

Republic of Ireland goalkeeper, Shay Given, was kidnapped at the Irish border 3 years ago en route to play for his country, and has been held without charge or trial. As he left his home in Donegal, he set off for Dublin to meet up with the Ireland team. He never reached his destination. While crossing through the occupied 6 counties of Ireland, he was kidnapped by British soldiers and has been held in a prison without a single visit from his family or friends.

In protest at his detention, he embarked on a Hunger Strike. He is now on day 81, and weights 51 kilos. To date, the International community and his fellow professional footballers have stayed silent and ignored his plight. Despite pleas from Amnesty International for his release, Shay still remains in a prison cell.

Well, that didn't happen to Shay, but it happened to Mahmoud Sarsak, a Palestinian from Gaza. As Mahmoud made his way from Gaza to the West Bank to play with the Palestine national team, he was kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces and has been held for 3 years now without trial or charge. In protest, he embarked on a hunger strike and today, he is on day 81 without food.

There has been a complete silence from the international football world as they gear up for the Euro Championships in Poland and the Ukraine. Needless to say, if Shay Given was in Mahmouds shoes right now, there would be an international outcry, and pressure would be brought on Israel to release him immediately.

How Israel was awarded the 2013 U21 Euro championships beggars belief, and if there was any justice in this world, they should be stripped of this tournament for the sake of justice and humanity, 2 words that are alien to Israel when it comes to Palestine.

Carlos Latuff produced the following image to demonstrate the solidarity from the Irish Hunger Strikers to the Palestinian Hunger Strikers.


(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3vxbywNt91qcqog6o1_500.jpg)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=493053

A war on Palestinian soccer: Free Mahmoud al-Sarsak


Palestinian national soccer team member Mahmoud al-Sarsak completed 81 days of a grueling hunger-strike. He has sustained the strike despite the fact that nearly 2,000 Palestinian inmates had called off their own 28-day hunger strike weeks ago.

Although the story of Palestinian prisoners in Israel speaks to a common reality of unlawful detentions and widespread mistreatment, al-Sarsak's fate can also be viewed within its own unique context. The soccer player, who once sought to take the name and flag of his nation to international arenas, was arrested by Israeli soldiers in July 2009 while en route to join the national team in the West Bank.

Al-Sarsak was branded an 'illegal combatant' by Israel's military judicial system, and was since imprisoned without any charges or trial.

Al-Sarsak is not alone in the continued hunger strike. Akram al-Rekhawi, a diabetic prisoner demanding proper medical care, has refused food for 57 days.

Both men are in dire medical condition. Al-Sarsak, once of unmatched athletic build, is now gaunt beyond recognition. The already ill al-Rekhawi is dying.

According to rights groups, an Israeli court on May 30 granted prison doctors 12 days to allow independent doctors to visit the prisoners, further prolonging their suffering and isolation.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, which has done a remarkable job battling the draconian rules of Israeli military courts, petitioned the court to meet with both al-Sarsak and al-Rekhawi.

Sadly, the story here becomes typical. PHRI, along with other prisoners' rights groups, are doing all that civil society organizations can do within such an oppressive legal and political situation.

Families are praying. Social media activists are sending constant updates and declaring solidarity. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is merely looking on -- not due to any lack of concern for human rights, but due to the selective sympathy of Western governments and media.

Think of the uproar made by US media over the fate of blind Chinese political activist Chen Guangcheng. When he took shelter in the US embassy in Beijing, a near-diplomatic crisis ensued.

Guangcheng was finally flown to the US on May 19, and he recently delivered a talk in New York before an astounded audience.

"The 40-year-old, blind activist said that his lengthy detention (of seven years) demonstrates that lawlessness is still the norm in China," reported the New York Post.

"Is there any justice? Is there any rationale in any of this?" Chen asked. Few in the US media would contend with the statement. But somehow the logic becomes entirely irrelevant when the perpetrator of injustice is Israel, and the victim is a Palestinian.

Al-Rekhawi is not blind, but he has many medical ailments. He has been in Ramle prison clinic since his detention in 2004, receiving severely inadequate medical care.

Al-Sarsak, who has been a witness to many tragedies, is now becoming one.

The 25-year old had once hoped to push the ranking of his national team back to a reasonable standing. If Palestinians ever deserve to be called 'fanatics', it would be in reference to soccer.

As a child growing up in Gaza, I remember playing soccer in few minute increments, braving Israeli military curfews, risking arrests, injury and even death. Somehow, in a very crowded refugee camp, soccer becomes tantamount to freedom.

Palestine's soccer ranking at 164th in the world is testament not to any lack of passion for the game, but to the constant Israeli attempts at destroying even that national aspiration.

The examples of Israeli war on Palestinian soccer are too many to count, although most of them receive little or no media coverage whatsoever.

In 2004 Israel blocked several essential players from accompanying the national team out of Gaza for a second match against Chinese Taipei. (Palestine had won the first match 8-0.)

The obstacles culminated in the March 2006 bombing of the Palestinian Football Stadium in Gaza, which reduced the grass field to a massive crater. Then, in the 2008 war on Gaza, things turned bloody as Israel killed three national soccer players: Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe. It also bombed their stadium again.

Al-Sarsak was a promising new face of Palestinian soccer. In times of Palestinian disunity and factionalism, it was the national team that kept a symbolic unity between Gaza and the West Bank – and indeed Palestinians everywhere.

These young men exemplify hope that better times are ahead. But Sarsak's star is now fading, as is his life. His mother, who hasn't seen him since his arrest, told Ma'an that she thinks of him every minute of each day. "Why is there no one moving to save his life?" she asked.

Writing in the Nation on May 10, Dave Zirin wrote, "Imagine if a member of Team USA Basketball—let's say Kobe Bryant—had been traveling to an international tournament only to be seized by a foreign government and held in prison for three years without trial or even hearing the charges for which he was imprisoned ... Chances are all the powerful international sports organizations—the IOC, FIFA—would treat the jailing nation as a pariah until Kobe was free. And chances are that even Laker-haters would wear buttons that read, 'Free Kobe.'"

Al-Sarsak is the Bryant of his people. But ask any political commentator and he will tell you why Mahmoud al-Sarsak is not Kobe Bryant, and why al-Rekhawi is not Chen. It is the same prevalent logic of a powerful Washington-based pro-Israel lobby and all the rest.

Even if the logic was founded, why are international sports institutions not standing in complete solidarity with the dying al-Sarsak? Why don't soccer matches include a moment of solidarity with killed Palestinian players, and the dying young man aching to join his teammates on the field once more?

Why is Israel not fully and comprehensively boycotted by every international sports organization?

"As long as al-Sarsak remains indefinitely detained and as long as Israel targets sport and athletes as legitimate targets of war, they have no business being rewarded by FIFA or the UEFA, let alone even being a part of the community of international sports," wrote Zirin.

It would be a belated step, but an unequivocally urgent one, for Palestinian sportsmen are literally dying.

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-bars-palestinian-athlete-from-paralympic-celebration-7827289.html


Israel has barred a paralyzed Palestinian athlete who lives in Gaza
from an Olympics celebration sponsored by the British government.

Khamis Zakout says the British Consulate in Jerusalem invited him and five fellow athletes on the Palestinian Paralympics team to a pre-Olympics celebration in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. He says he was the only one banned from attending.

The Israeli military says Zakout was barred for security reasons. The Shin Bet internal security service had no immediate comment.

The 47-year-old Zakout says he has no security record and worked in Israel before his legs were paralyzed in a work accident there in 1992.

Zakout competes in the javelin and shot put. He plans to travel from Gaza by way of Egypt to attend the London Olympics.

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 01:50:44 AM
Carlos Latuff produced the following image to demonstrate the solidarity from the Irish Hunger Strikers to the Palestinian Hunger Strikers.


(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3vxbywNt91qcqog6o1_500.jpg)

Can't see much support from the Unionists with this image being used.

Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=6061

On 5 June 2012, a day usually commemorated as the Naksa Day by Palestinians (signifying the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the six day war in 1967), the village of Kharaas, Hebron were celebrating the homecoming of their son and brother Thaer Halahleh from Israeli prison, who had embarked on a historic hunger strike that lasted for 77 days.

Halahleh's strike began on 9 March, along with fellow inmate Bilal Thiab. The two had been imprisoned for two years and seven months respectively as administrative detainees, meaning that no charges were ever brought against them. Halahleh and Thiab were both on hunger strike in solidarity with Khader Adnan and later Hana Shalabi, and decided to undertake their own strike as a result of the cumulative oppression they were subjected to by the Israeli Prison Service.

The prisoners' agreement, signed by the IPS and the Higher Committee for Prisoners on the eve of Nakba Day (May 15) stipulated that the handful of hunger strikers who had entered their third month without food, along with the rest of the prisoners held on administrative detention, would be released by the end of their detention period.

The Israeli authorities revealed that Halahleh would be released at the Beit Sira checkpoint, but gave no indication of when. Journalists and family members waited from 10 am until 7pm at the checkpoint, before they received word that Halahleh had been released at Turkimia checkpoint, near Hebron. Due to the onslaught of the media circus, it was not until 10 pm that Halahleh finally managed to reach his eagerly awaiting immediate family, especially his wife Shireen and 2 year old daughter Lamar.

The next morning Halahleh was taken to the 'Ali Hospital in Hebron for standard medical tests and procedures. His hair and beard were trimmed from last night, and a Palestine flag was tacked up behind his hospital bed. Lying back on the propped up bed, all signs of a 77 day hunger strike present in his loose clothes and gaunt face, he answered phone call after phone call from friends, acquaintances, journalists, and family members. Halahleh's weight dropped from 183 pounds to 116 pounds.

Living without food

After 30 days on hunger strike, Halahleh was moved to the Ramle Prison Hospital. The treatment at the hands of the Israeli Prison Service did not differ even after the end of the hunger strike, where Halahleh spent the remaining three weeks of his detention there recuperating.

"They didn't use physical force," Halahleh said, "but it was mostly psychological torture. They'd always tell me and the other hunger strikers that no one in the world cares about us, and that our hunger strike is a failure, and that we were going to die forgotten and alone."

The first ten days of his and Bilal Thiab's hunger strike were very difficult.

"Our bodies were reacting to taking in no food at all...it was painful to say the least," Halahleh lightly said. "After 30 days we had absolutely no appetite for food at all. Water was my loyal comrade," he smiled.

His letter to his daughter, whom he hasn't met before as she was born a month after he was arrested in 2010, was a poignant farewell message written on his 75th day of hunger strike, a miracle that he even had the strength to pick up a pen and write so eloquently.

"Bilal always tells me that my words and style of writing is so lucid...I imagined Lamar in her white dress twirling around my hospital bed in the prison as I wrote the letter, and my tears kept pouring down my face. The Red Cross Committee gave me pictures of Lamar but the IPS confiscated them and wouldn't let me see them."

The hunger strikes in Ramle Prison hospital had limited access to news as they had no TV or radio. The little news they'd get would be transferred to them from the lawyers during their visits. Sometimes the hunger strikers would all be in the same room, but as the strike progressed they were broken up into pairs in different rooms. Most of the time, Halahleh and Bilal Thiab were together.

"Bilal is closer to me than my brother...we would encourage each other every time our morale would drop low. Generally our spirits were high, but sometimes, inevitably, we'd give in to the bleak reality surrounding us."

Hunger strike as a life project

Hunger strike wasn't an easy choice to make. Halahleh had given a lot of thought to the act, weighing up what he called "life projects."

"I had to take into prospect what I thought was more important," he said. "My marriage and fulfilling my role as a husband and a father to a daughter I don't know, or a hunger strike that might end in my death. I realized that my hunger strike, which came off the back of being subjected to such abject humiliation and tyranny by Israel, was essential in achieving a life I can be proud of."

Halahleh and Thiab began another hunger strike two days before he was due to be released, in case the Israeli authorities would make the mistake of finding an excuse for him to remain in prison longer. Handcuffed and shackled by the feet, he was transferred not in an ambulance but in a bosta, an armored steel van with metal ridges for seats to Turkimia checkpoint.

"I don't trust them," he says simply. "If I get arrested again I will go back on hunger strike immediately. No one enjoys prison; it is a grave."

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

A good few? Drop the good part. Extremists everywhere, i.e. Israel and some Palestinians. Israel seem to view him as a terrorist. Good enough reason for holding him they think.

Quote from: dillinger on June 07, 2012, 07:00:20 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

A good few? Drop the good part. Extremists everywhere, i.e. Israel and some Palestinians. Israel seem to view him as a terrorist. Good enough reason for holding him they think.

Well, if they have a reason to hold not only Mahmoud, but the 300 others who are also been held under "Administrative Detention" then they should charge them with a crime. Holding people for years on end without trial or charge is not the work of a country that claims to be a democracy.

Practically every human rights organisation around the world have called for their release, and for Administrative Detention to be scrapped. It is inhumane, unjust, and just plain wrong.

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 07:08:35 PM

Quote from: dillinger on June 07, 2012, 07:00:20 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

A good few? Drop the good part. Extremists everywhere, i.e. Israel and some Palestinians. Israel seem to view him as a terrorist. Good enough reason for holding him they think.

Well, if they have a reason to hold not only Mahmoud, but the 300 others who are also been held under "Administrative Detention" then they should charge them with a crime. Holding people for years on end without trial or charge is not the work of a country that claims to be a democracy.

Practically every human rights organisation around the world have called for their release, and for Administrative Detention to be scrapped. It is inhumane, unjust, and just plain wrong.

The Israeli's have forgotten what it is like to be dehumanized as a people, and they have done this in only a few generations, that is astonishing to me, the way they are treating the Palestinians is an absolute disgrace and they should be held accountable for their deeds................... where the fcuk is the UN in all of this?

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

What a load of nonsense - What have you based this on? - I would say that the vast majority of Unionists wouldn't hold a particular view - As for arsehole Loyalists flying Israeli flegs, I would reckon most would not have the first idea about the situation in the Middle East

Carlos Latuff:

No flags raised for footballer's strike: As fans around the world follow the Euro 2012 tournament, activists draw attention to a Palestinian footballer's hunger strike

(http://latuffcartoons.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/free-sarsak-cartoon-2.gif?w=590&h=258)

http://www.fifpro.org/news/news_details/1954

FIFPro: release Mahmoud Sarsak from prison

FIFPro, the voice of all professional footballers in the world, demands that Mahmoud Sarsak be released from prison. The Palestinian national team player has been imprisoned by the Israeli government for three years without any trial.

On 22 July 2009 Sarsak - who lives in Rafah in the Gaza Strip - was arrested at a checkpoint when he was on his way to the West Bank for a match with his national team. He was interrogated for thirty days and then imprisoned without any trial or a precise legal charge. Family and friends are not allowed to visit him. They do not know why he is being detained for already nearly three years.

According to the Israeli government he is an illegal combatant and therefore they can imprison him indefinitely.

To protest against his condition and lack of civil liberties, Sarsak currently is on a hunger strike. The 25-year old footballer has not eaten for 85 days and has lost approximately thirty kilos in weight. According to human rights organisation Addameer the situation of Mahmoud is critical.

FIFPro is deeply concerned about Sarsak's health and about his imprisonment and therefore asks for his release from jail.

FIFPro is also very concerned about the situation of many other professional footballers in Palestine. Sarsak is not the only player who is suffering from the actions of the Israeli government. There are stories of other players who have been harassed, arrested or even killed.

For many players in Palestine, there is no real freedom of movement.

'The freedom of movement is a fundamental right of every citizen', says Philippe Piat, FIFPro's vice-president and president of FIFPro Division Europe. 'It is also written down in the FIFA Regulations that players must be allowed to play for the national team of their country.'

'But actually for some footballers it is impossible to defend the colours of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot visit their family. They are locked up. This is an  injustice.'

Last year FIFPro paid two visits to Palestine to visit the footballers, to talk about their problems and to talk about the establishment of a professional footballers' association in Palestine.

Quote from: stew on June 11, 2012, 05:16:35 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 07:08:35 PM

Quote from: dillinger on June 07, 2012, 07:00:20 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on June 07, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
Generally, the vast majority of Unionists support Israel, so it makes no difference what image is used or not. A good few of them see themselves as from "The lost tribe of Israel".

A good few? Drop the good part. Extremists everywhere, i.e. Israel and some Palestinians. Israel seem to view him as a terrorist. Good enough reason for holding him they think.

Well, if they have a reason to hold not only Mahmoud, but the 300 others who are also been held under "Administrative Detention" then they should charge them with a crime. Holding people for years on end without trial or charge is not the work of a country that claims to be a democracy.

Practically every human rights organisation around the world have called for their release, and for Administrative Detention to be scrapped. It is inhumane, unjust, and just plain wrong.

The Israeli's have forgotten what it is like to be dehumanized as a people, and they have done this in only a few generations, that is astonishing to me, the way they are treating the Palestinians is an absolute disgrace and they should be held accountable for their deeds................... where the fcuk is the UN in all of this?

Good post Stew except for the bit about the UN. We all know the UN is a total waste of space.

Quote from: give her dixie on June 12, 2012, 09:25:38 AM
http://www.fifpro.org/news/news_details/1954

FIFPro: release Mahmoud Sarsak from prison

FIFPro, the voice of all professional footballers in the world, demands that Mahmoud Sarsak be released from prison. The Palestinian national team player has been imprisoned by the Israeli government for three years without any trial.

On 22 July 2009 Sarsak - who lives in Rafah in the Gaza Strip - was arrested at a checkpoint when he was on his way to the West Bank for a match with his national team. He was interrogated for thirty days and then imprisoned without any trial or a precise legal charge. Family and friends are not allowed to visit him. They do not know why he is being detained for already nearly three years.

According to the Israeli government he is an illegal combatant and therefore they can imprison him indefinitely.

To protest against his condition and lack of civil liberties, Sarsak currently is on a hunger strike. The 25-year old footballer has not eaten for 85 days and has lost approximately thirty kilos in weight. According to human rights organisation Addameer the situation of Mahmoud is critical.

FIFPro is deeply concerned about Sarsak's health and about his imprisonment and therefore asks for his release from jail.

FIFPro is also very concerned about the situation of many other professional footballers in Palestine. Sarsak is not the only player who is suffering from the actions of the Israeli government. There are stories of other players who have been harassed, arrested or even killed.

For many players in Palestine, there is no real freedom of movement.

'The freedom of movement is a fundamental right of every citizen', says Philippe Piat, FIFPro's vice-president and president of FIFPro Division Europe. 'It is also written down in the FIFA Regulations that players must be allowed to play for the national team of their country.'

'But actually for some footballers it is impossible to defend the colours of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot visit their family. They are locked up. This is an  injustice.'

Last year FIFPro paid two visits to Palestine to visit the footballers, to talk about their problems and to talk about the establishment of a professional footballers' association in Palestine.

Fantastic stuff there from Fifpro-

Pro footballers don't share the pathology of Zionism

FIFA have now spoke out in support of Mahmoud Sarsak, and issued the following statement:

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/footballgovernance/news/newsid=1648346/index.html

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter expressed today (12 June) grave concern and worry about the alleged illegal detention of Palestine football players.

The reports FIFA received state that in apparent violation of their integrity and human rights and without the apparent right of a due process (trial), several Palestine football players have allegedly been illegally detained by Israeli authorities. In particular, the mentioned reports refer to the Palestine player Mahmoud Sarsak, whose health is in a very delicate state due to the fact that he has been undergoing a hunger strike for approximately 90 days in protest of his alleged illegal detention.

Due to the aforementioned graveness of the situation, FIFA urgently calls on IFA to draw the attention of the Israeli competent authorities to the present matter, with the aim of ensuring the physical integrity of the concerned players as well as their right for due process. The matter came to FIFA's attention following correspondence with the Palestine Football Association, several international media reports concerning the football player Mahmoud Sarsak and a FIFPro media release.

Football legend Eric Cantona has co-signed a letter with other international figures including Noam Chomksy, filmmaker Ken Loach, international law expert John Dugard to UK Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, UEFA President Michel Platini and other European government and sporting bodies to protest Israel's actions and the complicity of international sporting bodies.

QuoteWe are all shocked at the racist chanting at football matches in Poland and Ukraine where Euro 2012 is being played. Footballing bodies and politicians have been outspoken in their condemnation. Indeed some government officials are boycotting group stage matches in Ukraine because of perceived human rights abuses in that country.

So why are these same groups silent when Israel is to host the U.E.F.A. Under 21s competition in 2013? Racism, human rights abuses and gross violations of international law are daily occurrences in that country.

Israeli government ministers respond to mob attacks on black refugees by denouncing them as 'infiltrators' and calling for them to be imprisoned in military camps.

Israeli jails house around 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners, more than 300 of them "administrative detainees" held without charge or trial. One of these is a footballer from Gaza, Mahmoud Sarsak, aged 25. He has been imprisoned for nearly three years. No charge, no trial. In desperation, he has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days and is now close to death. He, and all victims of abuse by the Israeli state, need our support.

It is time to end Israel's impunity and to insist on the same standards of equality, justice and respect for international law that we demand of other states.'

FULL LIST OF SIGNATORIES, SIGNING IN PERSONAL CAPACITY:
* Eric Cantona, actor an former footballer
* Noam Chomsky, Professor MIT, USA
* John Dugard, Former Special Rapporteur of UN on Palestine, South Africa
* Trevor Griffiths, Writer, UK
* Paul Laverty, Screenwriter, UK
* Ken Loach, Filmmaker, UK
* Michael Mansfield, QC, UK
* Miriam Margolyes OBE, Actor, UK
* John Pilger, Journalist, author, film maker, Australia
* Show Racism the Red Card
* Ahdaf Soueif, Writer, UK

https://www.change.org/petitions/uefa-president-michel-platini-secure-release-of-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-held-by-uefa-member-israel

A Celtic message to Palestine

Football fans known for identifying with left-wing Irish causes express solidarity with hunger strikers in Israeli jail.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/2012612204354413741.html

On the final day of the Scottish football season, one of the biggest crowds in Europe turned up to watch Celtic FC being crowned champions.

Nearly 60,000 fans danced and sang as their heroes demolished Edinburgh club Heart of Midlothian 5-0. Anthems such as "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "The Celtic Song" mingled with tributes to players past and present.

Then something different happened. For a few minutes, in one corner of the stadium, a flurry of Palestinian flags flew proudly amidst the green and white colours of the home supporters.

A banner appeared reading: "Dignity is More Precious than Food."

This display of support for Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails was organised by members of the Green Brigade, a well-known "ultras" group who describe themselves as left-wing, anti-racist and anti-sectarian.

An unnamed spokesman told the "We are all Hana Shalabi" website: "We did this in solidarity, to raise awareness and because it's the right thing to do. We want Palestinians to know we are thinking about them and encourage Scottish civil society to look at the injustice in Palestine."

Palestinian and Basque flags have been flown at Celtic Park since at least the 1980s. Celtic's identification with left-wing causes is said to reflect the sometimes bitter experience of the Scots-Irish community from which it sprang.
 
For most of the 20th century, Irish immigrants to Scotland faced prejudice and discrimination. Catholics were excluded from skilled trades and denied jobs in many of Glasgow's shipyards and engineering workshops.

Celtic's great rivals, Rangers, the club of the Scottish Protestant establishment, reflected this intolerance with their own sectarian signing policy - refusing to enlist Catholic players - a policy which continued well into the 1980s.

Historian David Potter, who has written over 20 books about Celtic, told Al Jazeera that their success "provided a rallying point for the Irish community and gave them their self-respect".

Many Celtic fans today regard the Palestinian struggle for national freedom and equality as similar to their own.

Potter commented: "Ulster and Israel are similarly artificially created states. They were created by the British as an attempt to retain their influence, even if this was at the expense of naked and brutal suppression of those who disagreed."

On the other side of the city, Rangers fans fly the Israeli flag alongside the Union Jack.

Some Ulster Unionists make a connection between their own minority status on the island of Ireland and Israel, standing alone against its foes in a hostile region.

Other Rangers supporters fly the Star of David as a tribute to the club's former Israeli defender, Avi Cohen, who died tragically young in a motorcycle accident in 2010.

However, Alasdair McKillop from the Rangers Supporters Trust says the Israeli flags at Ibrox are largely a manifestation of the tit-for-tat dynamics of Glasgow's intense football rivalry.

He told Al Jazeera: "I don't think many Rangers fans would list 'support for Israel' if you asked them what they thought it meant to be a Rangers fan. But in the world of Rangers and Celtic, every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

The sporting significance of this cultural divide is likely to grow, as Palestine's national team attempts to qualify for major tournaments and Israel looks forward to hosting the UEFA Under-23 Championship in 2013.

Palestine was accepted as a FIFA member in 1998, after the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Nabhan Khraishi, spokesman for the Palestinian Football Association, said they are "using sport to deliver a message to the world".

A national team is a powerful symbol among a nation without a state, but progress has been difficult. In 2009, three Palestinian footballers, Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe were among those killed during the bombing of Gaza.

The National Stadium and the offices of the Palestinian Football Association were also destroyed.

"We are facing harassment from the Israelis," Khraishi told Al Jazeera. "Our players - and even our technical teams - are not allowed to move freely between Gaza and the West Bank, and are held up at international borders."

When Palestine played their first competitive home international last year, an Olympic qualifier against Thailand, eight Gaza-based players were stopped from making the short journey to Ramallah for the match.

"We are asking international organisations to pressure Israel to allow us freedom of movement," said Khraishi. "We are appealing to all sports clubs to stand with us."

Amir Ofek, press attache at the Israeli embassy in London, denied that Israel was deliberately targeting players. He told Al Jazeera that "almost-daily missile attacks" launched on Israel from Gaza were the only reason for imposing travel restrictions on Palestinians.

He added that Israel had the right to control who and what entered the Palestinian territories because of the security situation - and that it had to conduct checks to stop materials being brought in that could potentially be used for "hostile activity".

Most pressing of all is the case of Palestinian footballer, Mahmoud Sarsak, whose life is said to be at grave risk after beginning a hunger strike on March 19.

Sarsak is one of 300 Palestinian prisoners being held under "administrative detention", a procedure used to hold suspects for potentially unlimited time without trial.

He has been in Israeli custody since July 2009, when he was detained at a checkpoint as he travelled from his home in Gaza to join the Palestinian national squad for a match at the Balata Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank.

The recent wave of hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners has mobilised widespread support and cut across differences of faith and geography. There are now wider calls from civic Scotland for a sporting boycott of Israel.

Pauline McNeill, a former member of the Scottish parliament and a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, told Al Jazeera that UEFA should reconsider its decision to hold its Under-23 Championship in Israel in 2013.

"Nelson Mandela said the sporting boycott was hugely significant in breaking the Apartheid Regime in South Africa," she said. "I believe it is time to make a stand that this is unacceptable. Amongst other things I believe that UEFA should not endorse the actions of Israel by playing the tournament in Israel as if it's just business as usual."

The new Scottish football season kicks-off in August. There are growing fears that Mahmoud Sarsak may never play again.
 

Quote from: give her dixie on June 13, 2012, 04:28:59 PM
A Celtic message to Palestine

the Green Brigade, a well-known "ultras" group who describe themselves as left-wing, anti-racist and anti-sectarian.
."
    Many Celtic fans today regard the Palestinian struggle for national freedom and equality as similar to their own.

," [/quote
Eh? Backing from the "anti" sectarian green brigade?  Celtic fans stuggle? Eh? What bloody nonsense you write.

Quote from: dillinger on June 13, 2012, 10:19:02 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on June 13, 2012, 04:28:59 PM
A Celtic message to Palestine

the Green Brigade, a well-known "ultras" group who describe themselves as left-wing, anti-racist and anti-sectarian.
."
    Many Celtic fans today regard the Palestinian struggle for national freedom and equality as similar to their own.

," [/quote
Eh? Backing from the "anti" sectarian green brigade?  Celtic fans stuggle? Eh? What bloody nonsense you write.

What's your thoughts on Mahmoud Sarsak, as he starts his 88 day without food in protest at been held for 3 years without charge or trial?

And what would your thoughts be on the fact that he played for the Palestine national team, and was on his way to a match when he was kidnapped?

With out knowing both sides to the story it's hard to say. If i had too, i would say to release him now and try to save his life. Israel can then exclude him from their country, that's their choice. Your posts are not really going to appeal to the likes of me, being a Northern Ireland Unionist.Of course they were not intented to.

Quote from: dillinger on June 14, 2012, 11:38:07 AM
With out knowing both sides to the story it's hard to say. If i had too, i would say to release him now and try to save his life. Israel can then exclude him from their country, that's their choice. Your posts are not really going to appeal to the likes of me, being a Northern Ireland Unionist.Of course they were not intented to.

Fair enough comment, and by calling for his release, you have gone further than any nationalist politician in the North have. In fact, even mentioning his name is further than they have gone.

I don't set out to appeal to one shade or the other. Rather, I appeal to those who can see cases based on the humanitarian angle. Mahmoud has been held for 3 years without charge or trial, and he should be either charged, or released immediately.

Calls to strip Israel of hosting the European Under-21 Championships grow over detention of Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak

The Palestinian Football Federation is putting pressure on Uefa to remove Israel as hosts of next year's European Under-21 Championships for jailing a Palestine national team player without trial.

In a letter to the Uefa President, Michel Platini,  the PFF has declared Israel's actions as in "direct violation of Fifa regulations" .

"We ask, your excellency, to not give Israel the honour to host the next Uefa Under-21 Championship," PFF President Jibril Rajoub said. "We are deeply concerned about the situation of our footballers."

The PFF's plea comes amid growing concerns for the welfare of Mahmoud Sarsak, a footballer for the Palestinian national team, who has been on hunger strike whilst being detained by Israeli authorities. Arrested in July 2009 at a checkpoint while attempting to enter the West Bank, the 25-year-old has been detained under the controversial Israeli "Unlawful Combatants Law", which allows for Palestinians to be arrested without charge or trial for an unlimited time.

The hunger strike is in response to him rejecting a deal with Israel. Sarsak - who has lost approximately thirty kilograms in weight because of the hunger strike, as well as memory lapses and extreme loss of muscle tissue - refuses to take treatment from Israeli doctors that he despises and distrusts deeply.  After three months without food there are grave concerns for Sarsak's life, with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) warning that he could die at any moment.

Pressure from outside Israel is growing from international organisations that the 25-year-old should be released. Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, released a statement saying that "Fifa urgently calls on IFA to draw the attention of the Israeli competent authorities to the present matter, with the aim of ensuring the physical integrity of the concerned players as well as their right for due process."

FIFPro, the worldwide representative of professional football players, has expressed deep concerns "about Sarsak's health and about his imprisonment" and have requested he be released.

Prominent figures such as former France and Manchester United midfielder Eric Cantona, film director Ken Loach and American philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky have also urged Israeli authorities to release him. As well as this, protests under the banner "Let Sarsak Live" took place in London's Trafalgar Square last week to raise awareness of his ordeal.

Israeli officials believe the footballer to be an "Islamic Jihad terrorist who planned attacks and bombings".

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/calls-to-strip-israel-of-hosting-the-european-under21-championships-grow-over-detention-of-palestinian-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-7851488.html

Shay Given has already missed more saves than the hunger strikers did hot dinners.

Quote from: mayogodhelpus@gmail.com on June 14, 2012, 10:50:34 PM
Shay Given has already missed more saves than the hunger strikers did hot dinners.

Disgraceful and shameful comment. Have you no sense of humanity?

Quote from: give her dixie on June 14, 2012, 10:54:13 PM

Quote from: mayogodhelpus@gmail.com on June 14, 2012, 10:50:34 PM
Shay Given has already missed more saves than the hunger strikers did hot dinners.

Disgraceful and shameful comment. Have you no sense of humanity?

I know, poor ould Shay has given the Republic of Ireland good service over the years. I'm sorry Shay.

humanity, soccer supporters are a cruel bunch especially Irish ones but that's f**k all to you see the papers in the morning, they are worst that's the British papers!! they be tearings trips of people, likely blame the manager when the reality is that's it a miracle he got them there in the first place

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/14/plea-for-footballer

At a time when there is so much focus on international football, perhaps the media could give some attention to the plight of footballers in Palestine, where restrictions on movement prevent them from training and playing the beautiful game. At this moment, a young Palestinian footballer, Mahmoud Sarsak, is in a critical condition after three months on hunger strike, following his detention under "administrative" procedures without charge and without trial. Sarsak has been in Israeli custody since July 2009, when he was detained at a checkpoint as he travelled from his home in Gaza to join the Palestinian national squad for a match at Balata in the northern West Bank. In their first home international last year, an Olympic qualifying match against Thailand, the Palestinian team was without eight key players, who were refused permission to travel from Gaza to Ramallah. Earlier this year, the UN determined that Israel's policies in the occupied Palestinian territories violate the UN's convention prohibiting apartheid. Uefa should reconsider its decision to hold its under-21 championship in Israel in 2013.
John Austin
Former MP, Erith and Thamesmead

Carlos Latuff, the world famous political cartoonist will be in Ireland over the next few days and will be working on 2 murals. One in Derry tomorrow, and one in Belfast on the International wall on Monday.

Carlos is best known for his iconic soliditry images of Palestine and depicting anti - globalization, anti- capitalism, anti-war, and anti U.S. military intervention.

He will be opening an exhibition of his work on Sunday evening at the Irish language cafe, Na Croisbhealaí, 48 King Street, Belfast.

Event details: http://www.facebook.com/events/443307549021188/

If anyone can make it along, please do as this will be an evening not to be missed.

Click on the following link to view a vast array of his images from over the years:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=carlos+latuff&hl=en&prmd=imvnslo&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KRXbT-qZKeek0AXf1c3pCg&ved=0CFMQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=499#hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=carlos+latuff+&oq=carlos+latuff+&aq=f&aqi=g5g-S5&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i24l5.2079.3415.0.4625.7.7.0.0.0.0.174.990.1j6.7.0...0.0.jJ1toW44Fn4&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d48d4d997cc8772&biw=1024&bih=499

While I am awaiting official confirmation, radio stations in Gaza are reporting that Mahmoud Sarsak is to be released in 30 days time.

After 91 days on Hunger Strike, this is indeed incredible news if confirmed.

Quote from: give her dixie on June 17, 2012, 06:19:19 PM
While I am awaiting official confirmation, radio stations in Gaza are reporting that Mahmoud Sarsak is to be released in 30 days time.

After 91 days on Hunger Strike, this is indeed incredible news if confirmed.

Israel is just stringing them along , ensuring the maximum damage to the body is done while being sure there are no deaths .
Zionism is a really sick ideology.

Scotland beat Israel 8-0 and the fans sing "you're useless without guns"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMnimP0o1NQ

 :D :D

In the past hour, Mahmoud Sarsak was released from an Israeli prison after been held for 3 years without charge. Mahmoud endured a 3 month Hunger Strike in protest, and today he is back home in Gaza.

This is fantastic news, and no doubt, Mahmoud will receive an incredible reception.

Welcome home Mahmoud.

 :)

and well done to you give her dixie for highlighting his plight.

Yes Give er Dixie I would like to echo bcarriers sentiments.

Well done in promoting this!

Thanks guys for the messages.

In Gaza they don't really get to celebrate many victories, however, today they got
to welcome Mahmoud back home after his victory against Israel.

He sure is one special footballer.....

(http://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/428436_466411330035843_1817435320_n.jpg%3Fw%3D588%26h%3D422)

Mahmoud kissing his mother upon arriving in Gaza


(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/10/1341920814877/Palestinian-soccer-player-008.jpg)

Mahmoud arriving in Gaza



Israel has released a member of the Palestinian national football team who lobbied for his freedom by going on hunger strike for more than three months.

Mahmoud Sarsak greeted well-wishers in his native Gaza on Tuesday after three years in Israeli custody without charges or trial.

Israel has accused Sarsak of being active in Islamic Jihad, a claim he has denied.

During his hunger strike, the 25-year-old athlete shed nearly half his weight.

He ended the fast last month as part of a deal for his release. International sports organisations had sought his release.

At a Gaza hospital, Sarsak emerged from an ambulance and kissed his parents and siblings.

Israel had said earlier that he was to be released on Tuesday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/10/palestinian-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-freed?newsfeed=true

Report says he shed nearly half his weight during his hunger strike. Even with him putting some on again he must have been one fat footballer.

He does look in remarkably good shape.

Some good news but sad that 3 years of a mans life are gone for nothing. Time will tell what effects his efforts had on his health. 

Great show starting on TG4 now on the brutal siege of Gaza.

Excellent show and well worth watching

Quote from: mylestheslasher on July 10, 2012, 11:19:54 PM
Some good news but sad that 3 years of a mans life are gone for nothing. Time will tell what effects his efforts had on his health.

That's internment. Generally all for nothing with no apology or comeback at the end of it. Cnuts.

Quote from: give her dixie on July 17, 2012, 10:32:47 PM
Great show starting on TG4 now on the brutal siege of Gaza.

Excellent show and well worth watching

In fairness, what about the Palestinian attacks on Israel, do you concede that they have killed innocent Israeli women and children over the last few years?

Have you any concern for the people of Israel or are you anti Jew to a fault?

Quote from: ONeill on July 10, 2012, 07:28:05 PM
He does look in remarkably good shape.

So thats what a three hundred pound soccer player looks like!

Propaganda at it's worst, half his body weight  gone my hole.

Giver er dixie, caught the second half of that, good man.

A bit disgusting about the bit E multiplied by F divided by C etc part of the programme. In the words of that woman 'Just what they need to basically survive.' All the Israeli ministers who consented the form's names were blacked out

Quote from: theticklemister on July 17, 2012, 11:36:26 PM
Giver er dixie, caught the second half of that, good man.

A bit disgusting about the bit E multiplied by F divided by C etc part of the programme. In the words of that woman 'Just what they need to basically survive.' All the Israeli ministers who consented the form's names were blacked out

Unbelievable that they calculated the bare minimum that it would take survive without killing them wholesale. In fact, only for the tunnels that brought in so much food many people would have died.

Although the siege has been "Eased" following the massacre on the Mavi Mamara, it is still in place and the sea route is still closed off. With a new President in Egypt making promises to lift the siege on the Rafah crossing to allow goods in and out, things look very hopeful. Only time will tell.....

TG4 link to watch the show that was broadcast last night on the siege on Gaza. Well worth watching, but not sure if it available to watch outside Ireland.

http://www.tg4.ie/en/tg4-player/tg4-player.html?id=1740338700001&title=F%C3%ADorsc%C3%A9al

Quote from: stew on July 17, 2012, 11:21:18 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on July 17, 2012, 10:32:47 PM
Great show starting on TG4 now on the brutal siege of Gaza.

Excellent show and well worth watching

In fairness, what about the Palestinian attacks on Israel, do you concede that they have killed innocent Israeli women and children over the last few years?

Have you any concern for the people of Israel or are you anti Jew to a fault?

So I'm assuming you'd have had great sympathy with the Brits for the IRA attacks on them in the 70's and 80's. Would you be a big fan of Thatcher by any chance? Would her policies have had anything to do with the reaction of the IRA? Come on Stew - would have given you credit for more than that.

You cannot give any criticism of Israel without the anti-semitism card being played and frankly its a joke. For a people that were so persecuted to inflict the same on others defies belief. Then if you criticise them you're in the same boat as the Nazis.

Quote from: magpie seanie on July 18, 2012, 03:16:28 PM

Quote from: stew on July 17, 2012, 11:21:18 PM

Quote from: give her dixie on July 17, 2012, 10:32:47 PM
Great show starting on TG4 now on the brutal siege of Gaza.

Excellent show and well worth watching

In fairness, what about the Palestinian attacks on Israel, do you concede that they have killed innocent Israeli women and children over the last few years?

Have you any concern for the people of Israel or are you anti Jew to a fault?

So I'm assuming you'd have had great sympathy with the Brits for the IRA attacks on them in the 70's and 80's. Would you be a big fan of Thatcher by any chance? Would her policies have had anything to do with the reaction of the IRA? Come on Stew - would have given you credit for more than that.

You cannot give any criticism of Israel without the anti-semitism card being played and frankly its a joke. For a people that were so persecuted to inflict the same on others defies belief. Then if you criticise them you're in the same boat as the Nazis.

Seanie, Israel is at fault for most of this situation, all I am saying is that GHD seems to have scant regard for the innocents that are killed by the Palestinians.

I had sympathy for innocent brits that were killed by the IRA, as for Thatcher if I was one to wiish anyone dead, which I am not, it would have been her.

Some Muslim countries want to blow Israeli off the face of the earth and have stated so publicially, that, to me is anti semitism and i do not think it would killGHD to have some sense of balance, what is wrong with that?

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 06:00:37 PM
Some Muslim countries want to blow Israeli off the face of the earth and have stated so publicially, that, to me is anti semitism and i do not think it would killGHD to have some sense of balance, what is wrong with that?

So what percentage of his statements should be expressions of sympathy for dead Israeli's to constitute 'balance'?

Quote from: deiseach on July 18, 2012, 08:01:18 PM

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 06:00:37 PM
Some Muslim countries want to blow Israeli off the face of the earth and have stated so publicially, that, to me is anti semitism and i do not think it would killGHD to have some sense of balance, what is wrong with that?

So what percentage of his statements should be expressions of sympathy for dead Israeli's to constitute 'balance'?

Hmmm, one word condemning the murder of innocent Israeli's out of roughly 20 posts would be a nice gesture don't you think?

He questioned, and quite rightly  someone who posted an obnoxious and hateful comment and brought their humanity, that said if he has not one good thing to say about innocent Israeli's then I would have to question his humanity, it looks to me from everything he has ever posted that he is very much an Israeli hater imo.

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 08:32:53 PM
Hmmm, one word condemning the murder of innocent Israeli's out of roughly 20 posts would be a nice gesture don't you think?

Tokenism

Quote from: deiseach on July 18, 2012, 08:39:44 PM

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 08:32:53 PM
Hmmm, one word condemning the murder of innocent Israeli's out of roughly 20 posts would be a nice gesture don't you think?

Tokenism

Nah, human decency.

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 08:53:10 PM
Nah, human decency.

So all it would take for Willie Frazer to enter the ranks of human decency would be to mention the victims of Loyalist/Brit terror 5% of the time? No matter what he said the rest of the time? Nope, don't buy it.

Quote from: deiseach on July 18, 2012, 09:04:09 PM

Quote from: stew on July 18, 2012, 08:53:10 PM
Nah, human decency.

So all it would take for Willie Frazer to enter the ranks of human decency would be to mention the victims of Loyalist/Brit terror 5% of the time? No matter what he said the rest of the time? Nope, don't buy it.

What is there to buy? no matter what I said % wise you would have disagreed with me, I tried to help you by making it simple and simply have him say something, anything at all that would show some remorse for the Israeli dead, he  has failed to do so on this thread and to me it looks more and more like he does not give two shites about the Israeli dead!

Your comparison with Wullie Frazer is ridiculous, you cannot compare GHD and that tr**p Frazer, one has character and one is a hate filled wee cnut that should be locked up for what has come out of his mouth.

Ok, i will up the % to say 25%, would that be more acceptable to you?  ::)

http://www.thenation.com/blog/170264/palestinian-soccer-player-mahmoud-sarsak-wont-play-fc-barcelonas-game#

Palestinian Soccer Player Mahmoud Sarsak Won't Play FC Barcelona's Game

"His slogan is the gun, whereas mine is football, whose message is love and peace. For this reason I will refuse."


You may or may not remember the name Mahmoud Sarsak, subject of the most important and most underreported sports story of 2012. Sarsak is the Palestinian national team soccer player who was jailed for three years without charges by the Israeli government. He was denied contact with his family, a trial and kept largely in solitary confinement for reasons that bewilder his loved ones to this day. Finally Sarsak was freed after refusing food for ninety days, losing a third of his body weight, and through his personal agony, spurring international outrage. (Having 2,000 fellow hunger strikers certainly helped.) Organizations like Amnesty International, the 50,000-strong international union of soccer players, FIFpro and even Sepp Blatter, the morally sclerotic leader of FIFA, called for his release. Israel relented but that is clearly not the end of Sarsak's story.

Now Mahmoud Sarsak is in the news again after refusing an invitation sent by the legendary team FC Barcelona to attend its October Clasico match next week against Real Madrid. Sarsak will not make the trip because FC Barcelona wants him there to mute planned protests against the presence of another person invited to attend the match, former Israeli Defense Forces soldier Sergeant Major Gilad Shalit. Shalit is an Israeli folk hero after being a prisoner of war for five years, captured by Hamas in Gaza on June 25, 2006, on the cusp of Israel's brutal 2006 bombing campaign in Lebanon, known as the "July War." One of the many circulated petitions protesting the Shalit invite was specifically written and signed by Palestinian soccer players and endorsed by entire clubs. Their petition read:

"We, Palestinian footballers, athletes and sporting organizations and officials, are dismayed to learn the great team of Barcelona will host Gilad Shalit to the Clasico, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, on October 7th, while more than 5000 Palestinian political prisoners remain rotting, many in isolation, many with no visits, many on hunger strike with no attention or care for them to be released....Just as the effective boycott of sports teams from the South African apartheid regime showed, sporting and political life cannot be separated. We ask you to not show solidarity with the army that oppresses, imprisons and kills Palestinian sportsmen and women in Palestine."

FC Barcelona had to respond to the torrent of criticism on its website, stating that contrary to reports it did not in fact invite Shalit itself but "accepted a request" from Israeli authorities to have Shalit "watch a match during his visit to Barcelona." In the same press release, Barcelona announced its intent to unite Shalit and Sarsak as a symbol of efforts to bring "peace and harmony to the Middle East."

But this is one game Sarsak wouldn't play. As Sarsak said of Sgt. Maj. Shalit, "His slogan is the gun, whereas mine is football, whose message is love and peace. For this reason I will refuse."

Sarsak also made clear that understood that the roots of the invite wasn't a desire for "peace and harmony" but a response to protest. "I know that the invitation was issued after heavy pressure on FC Barcelona so that it could get out of its dilemma, but the Palestinian people are not and will not be a means for [others] to get out of their dilemmas."

The courage of this decision is very real. Not only was Sarsak rejecting FC Barcelona but also his own Palestinian embassy officials who formally asked him to attend. He was making clear that peace and harmony with Sgt. Maj. Gilad Shalit in the current circumstances would do more harm than good, selling the idea that peace under the current circumstances of quarantine and occupation was a peace worth having. As Sarsak said, "I cherish the invitation of a great club like Barcelona but not [as] an invitation for normalization."

Sarsak also stated that he didn't want anyone to interpret his rejection of the invite as a refusal to speak out politically about his time behind bars. "It is a great honor and it is a victory for a Palestinian prisoner and for the Palestinian cause and a victory for our principles and stances that a prisoner who is at the same time an athlete should go out and explain the suffering of his people," he said. "But in the presence of the soldier Gilad Shalit on the same stands, I will refuse this invitation."

fair dues to him.

good man give er dixie for reporting this news.

Can't think Barca will miss him.

So he won't go because an Israeli is going? Though the Israeli will go if he is there?

Puts him down for a bigot imo.

Quote from: dillinger on October 05, 2012, 11:27:12 PM
Can't think Barca will miss him.

So he won't go because an Israeli is going? Though the Israeli will go if he is there?

Puts him down for a bigot imo.

A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Nothing bigoted in that, if you'd care to look up the Israeli army's track record, I'm sure you'd agree.

No i won't look it up thank you, and i don't agree.

Quote from: dillinger on October 06, 2012, 12:05:46 AM
No i won't look it up thank you, and i don't agree.

So you're disagreeing on something you haven't even researched? Fair enough.

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 12:16:48 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

His rank is actually irrelevant. The fact he was in the IDF is enough.

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 12:19:51 AM

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 12:16:48 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

His rank is actually irrelevant. The fact he was in the IDF is enough.

If his rank is irrelevant why try to make him sound like he was something he wasn't? You were the one who mentioned it, and were later talking about research after all? He was also on compulsory military service at the time of his capture, i.e. he's not a professional soldier, so the fact he was in the IDF is not enough. EDIT - the fact he may be used as a PR pawn is, though I understand he works as a sports journo now?

For what it's worth I think Sarsak is probably correct to refuse the invite, it stinks of Barca trying to extricate themselves from a PR nightmare in a pretty ham fisted manner. Shalit would do Barca a massive favour by withdrawing too, and leaving the only politics of the Classico the usual, Castillion vs Catalan.

Better way of putting it is 'revered' ex-Israeli army man (folk hero?) And the whether he was on conscription or not doesn't matter - still IDF.

Well I honestly don't know if he's revered, I do recall lots of Israelis didn't want a single prisoner swapped for him, never mind the hundreds that were. Also, I don't know how he's handled himself since (thought he was sued for plageurising a children's book published during his captivity???). How much of a folk hero can you be for being captured and held hostage? It's likely only for his family's efforts to bring his case he would have been disposed of by his captors. Anyway, as for the IDF thing, we'll have to agree to disagree, I do differentiate between those who volunteer for service and those compelled.

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 01:00:48 AM
Better way of putting it is 'revered' ex-Israeli army man (folk hero?) And the whether he was on conscription or not doesn't matter - still IDF.

What do you suggest he should have done when his country called him up for military service?
Refused?

Quote from: dillinger on October 05, 2012, 11:27:12 PM
Can't think Barca will miss him.

So he won't go because an Israeli is going? Though the Israeli will go if he is there?

Puts him down for a bigot imo.

Best post ever imho on political threads on here.

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 12:19:51 AM

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 12:16:48 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

His rank is actually irrelevant. The fact he was in the IDF is enough.

Aha, the mental man states he is a "high ranking Israeli military man actually"

The Israeli military have decided that the rank of Corporal is higher than that of General.........................that is according to Fitzy on here. ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Sarsak is right to refuse to appear with shalit. Israel is losing the pr war and getting more and more hysterical. The 2 state solution is dead. There is no peace process. Israelis now talk openly about ethnic cleansing. Would bobby sands have appeared with norman tebbit at chelsea in 1980?

Since his release, Shalit has been a bit of a poster boy for Israel and they have been sending him to various high profile sporting events. The NBA finals last year is one such event where he ended up in the winners changing rooms afterwards!

Sarsak is totally correct in not attending, and becoming a pawn in a "normalisation" of the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. Barcelona fell into the trap laid out for them by Israel by agreeing to have Shalit attend, and when they came under severe pressure from fans at home and worldwide they then invited Sarsak. To refuse the invitation for Shalit would have played straight into the Israeli's hands whereby they could scream "Anti Semitism".

Hamas were right in capturing Shalit, as under international law he was a POW. He was treated very well during his captivity, a point he made himself. The same can't be said for the thousands of Palestinians rotting away in Israeli prisons. On top of that, his father Noam said that if he were a Palestinian, he too would have captured an IDF soldier.

The reality is that the world at large has woken up to the horrible suffering the Palestinians have endured for over 60 years, however, the main problem is the support and green light to carry on with their genocide and ethnic cleansing by the US. $3 billion a year and a free trade agreement is a serious whack of change, plus full protection from sanctions by the UN for their crimes due to the veto by the US.

Perhaps when people complain about the few dollars spent on healthcare etc on the undocumented workers in the US, they would shout out about their tax dollars been spent on a rogue state who murder and steal land on a daily basis.

They should have thrown in dinner for Sarsak with the match tickets..... Maybe that would have persuaded him.

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 09:10:53 AM
They should have thrown in dinner for Sarsak with the match tickets..... Maybe that would have persuaded him.

Those Bobby Sands jokes are really hilarious

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 09:13:09 AM

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 09:10:53 AM
They should have thrown in dinner for Sarsak with the match tickets..... Maybe that would have persuaded him.

Those Bobby Sands jokes are really hilarious

It is the unthoughtfulness that gets me

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 09:13:09 AM

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 09:10:53 AM
They should have thrown in dinner for Sarsak with the match tickets..... Maybe that would have persuaded him.

Those Bobby Sands jokes are really hilarious

Where did I mention bobby sands? Fcukwit  ::) ::)

Quote from: theticklemister on October 06, 2012, 09:35:16 AM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 09:13:09 AM

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 09:10:53 AM
They should have thrown in dinner for Sarsak with the match tickets..... Maybe that would have persuaded him.

Those Bobby Sands jokes are really hilarious

It is the unthoughtfulness that gets me

It's the faux outrage that gets me....

They were making the same jokes about Bobby Sands in Ballymena in 1981, bigfella.
It's just ignorance. Would you joke about the Holocaust? Of course not.

Quote from: stew on October 06, 2012, 03:18:07 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 12:19:51 AM

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 12:16:48 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

His rank is actually irrelevant. The fact he was in the IDF is enough.

Aha, the mental man states he is a "high ranking Israeli military man actually"

The Israeli military have decided that the rank of Corporal is higher than that of General.........................that is according to Fitzy on here. ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Ah, the US/Israel cheerleader. How many innocent people pesky terrorists will be murdered today by your adopted country today do you think?

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 10:01:31 AM
They were making the same jokes about Bobby Sands in Ballymena in 1981, bigfella.
It's just ignorance. Would you joke about the Holocaust? Of course not.

Yep that's right..... Still point out where I mentioned bobby sands? and IMO comparing what happened to Sarsak to the holocaust doesn't do much for your argument or proving you have t he slightest bit of intelligence. Your link to Sands in tenuous. Keep trying  ::) ::)

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 10:11:57 AM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 10:01:31 AM
They were making the same jokes about Bobby Sands in Ballymena in 1981, bigfella.
It's just ignorance. Would you joke about the Holocaust? Of course not.

Yep that's right..... Still point out where I mentioned bobby sands? and IMO comparing what happened to Sarsak to the holocaust doesn't do much for your argument or proving you have t he slightest bit of intelligence. Your link to Sands in tenuous. Keep trying  ::) ::)

Surely you'd know there'd be some sensitivity when it comes to jokes about hungersrikers on this board?

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 10:31:46 AM

Quote from: thebigfella on October 06, 2012, 10:11:57 AM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 10:01:31 AM
They were making the same jokes about Bobby Sands in Ballymena in 1981, bigfella.
It's just ignorance. Would you joke about the Holocaust? Of course not.

Yep that's right..... Still point out where I mentioned bobby sands? and IMO comparing what happened to Sarsak to the holocaust doesn't do much for your argument or proving you have t he slightest bit of intelligence. Your link to Sands in tenuous. Keep trying  ::) ::)

Surely you'd know there'd be some sensitivity when it comes to jokes about hungersrikers on this board?

Ah sure its a world away to people..................

Quote from: give her dixie on October 06, 2012, 08:57:26 AM
Since his release, Shalit has been a bit of a poster boy for Israel and they have been sending him to various high profile sporting events. The NBA finals last year is one such event where he ended up in the winners changing rooms afterwards!

Sarsak is totally correct in not attending, and becoming a pawn in a "normalisation" of the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. Barcelona fell into the trap laid out for them by Israel by agreeing to have Shalit attend, and when they came under severe pressure from fans at home and worldwide they then invited Sarsak. To refuse the invitation for Shalit would have played straight into the Israeli's hands whereby they could scream "Anti Semitism".

Hamas were right in capturing Shalit, as under international law he was a POW. He was treated very well during his captivity, a point he made himself. The same can't be said for the thousands of Palestinians rotting away in Israeli prisons. On top of that, his father Noam said that if he were a Palestinian, he too would have captured an IDF soldier.

The reality is that the world at large has woken up to the horrible suffering the Palestinians have endured for over 60 years, however, the main problem is the support and green light to carry on with their genocide and ethnic cleansing by the US. $3 billion a year and a free trade agreement is a serious whack of change, plus full protection from sanctions by the UN for their crimes due to the veto by the US.

Perhaps when people complain about the few dollars spent on healthcare etc on the undocumented workers in the US, they would shout out about their tax dollars been spent on a rogue state who murder and steal land on a daily basis.

That antisemitism schtick is only going to work for a few years more. What Israel is doing to Gaza is micromanaging a catastrophe. Gaza is being made unlivable according to the UN.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19391809

Shalit was part of this system. He is a war criminal.

This video shows Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem smashing the head of a Palestinian boy on the ground during a violent arrest, after Israeli troops stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in eastern occupied Jerusalem on Friday. The 3rd most moral army in the world my arse....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywi-EcSnEl8

Israel to start stealing Palestinian oil next week:

http://www.alresalah.ps/en/index.php?act=post&id=1204

And below is a report of Israeli violations in Gaza and the West Bank where among other things, 13 Palestinians were murdered:


The Center for Information and Decision Support in the Ministry of Planning issued the monthly report, which tracks the most prominent Israeli violations and attacks against the Palestinian people over September, 2012.

The report pointed out that Israeli occupation forces kill 11 Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip, and wounded 9 others including a woman and 4 children during September in Israeli escalations against people of the besieged Gaza strip.

The report also mentioned that IOF killed two Palestinians and wounded more than 10 citizens in the occupied West Bank during sporadic clashes with Israeli forces before Israeli prison of "Ofer" in the west of Ramallah, and also in clashes that took place between the citizens and occupation forces in the city of Nablus.

Incursions and Arrests:

Regarding to incursions and arrests, the report pointed out that IOF  carried out nearly 6 incursions in the Gaza Strip, and has carried out  141 incursions and storming in the cities of the West Bank, which included  arrests of 285 Palestinians in September.

The report stated that the total number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails reached 4500 captives.

It explained that number of patient detainees is 1400 suffering of medical negligence, which led to worsen their health conditions worse.

The report talked about conditions of children prisoners the violations against them such as abuse and harassment, adding that 20% of prisoned Palestinian kids are existed in Hasharon prison, where they are exposed to a systematic harassment by Israeli prison's administration.

Settlers Attacks and buildings demolition the report pointed out that Israeli occupation forces confiscated 1060 dunums, and there are decisions to confiscate 775 other dunums, adding that settlements construction in the West Bank increased to have more than 400 settling units in occupied territories in the West Bank.

It clarified that about 10 buildings have been demolished beside 20 other buildings are threatened to be demolished. The total of demolished homes since the beginning of 2012 till September reaches 467 buildings.

Attacks in Jerusalem:

The report stated that Israeli occupation forces are planning to demolish nearly 3727 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, which includes 1500 Jerusalemite household. IOF confiscated 1800 acres of cemetery of '' the Gate of Mercy''

It mentioned also the IOF isolated Jerusalem from the northern and eastern sides through completing  construction of the last part of the Apartheid Wall in the area, explaining that it would entirely separate several neighborhoods of the city.

Moreover, what so -called 'local committee for planning and construction' of israeli occupation authorities  planned to build 940 more settling  units in the settlement of 'Gilo' south of occupied Jerusalem.

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 11:19:07 AM

Quote from: give her dixie on October 06, 2012, 08:57:26 AM
Since his release, Shalit has been a bit of a poster boy for Israel and they have been sending him to various high profile sporting events. The NBA finals last year is one such event where he ended up in the winners changing rooms afterwards!

Sarsak is totally correct in not attending, and becoming a pawn in a "normalisation" of the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. Barcelona fell into the trap laid out for them by Israel by agreeing to have Shalit attend, and when they came under severe pressure from fans at home and worldwide they then invited Sarsak. To refuse the invitation for Shalit would have played straight into the Israeli's hands whereby they could scream "Anti Semitism".

Hamas were right in capturing Shalit, as under international law he was a POW. He was treated very well during his captivity, a point he made himself. The same can't be said for the thousands of Palestinians rotting away in Israeli prisons. On top of that, his father Noam said that if he were a Palestinian, he too would have captured an IDF soldier.

The reality is that the world at large has woken up to the horrible suffering the Palestinians have endured for over 60 years, however, the main problem is the support and green light to carry on with their genocide and ethnic cleansing by the US. $3 billion a year and a free trade agreement is a serious whack of change, plus full protection from sanctions by the UN for their crimes due to the veto by the US.

Perhaps when people complain about the few dollars spent on healthcare etc on the undocumented workers in the US, they would shout out about their tax dollars been spent on a rogue state who murder and steal land on a daily basis.

That antisemitism schtick is only going to work for a few years more. What Israel is doing to Gaza is micromanaging a catastrophe. Gaza is being made unlivable according to the UN.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19391809

Shalit was part of this system. He is a war criminal.

The UN are useless bastards, cowardly bastards at that, they should be in Gaza with the world condemning Israel for what it is at, the US in particular is a disgrace for propping these hoors up, they should pull every penny until Israel stop destroying the lives of the Palestinian people.

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 11:19:07 AM
Shalit was part of this system. He is a war criminal.

Sweet divine. I'm very well disposed to, and educated about, the Palestinian's situation, but hysteria like that just alienates those in the middle ground.

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 04:25:54 PM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 11:19:07 AM
Shalit was part of this system. He is a war criminal.

Sweet divine. I'm very well disposed to, and educated about, the Palestinian's situation, but hysteria like that just alienates those in the middle ground.

What they are doing to gaza is a crime against humanity. The truth will come out. Shalit should be a pariah.

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 05:13:06 PM
What they are doing to gaza is a crime against humanity. The truth will come out.

No argument here. As for whether he should be a pariah, perhaps, but a war criminal?

QuoteWar Crimes are those serious violations of the rules of customary and treaty law concerning international humanitarian law that have become accepted as criminal offences for which there is individual responsibility.

Took that from "International Law" by Shaw, it's only one definition obviously, but a standard one.

Sorry for dragging the thread off topic but we lose the moral argument and leave the legitimate issues open to dismissal when we start to sound as unreasonable as those whose actions we object to is all I'm saying.

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 06, 2012, 12:19:51 AM

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 12:16:48 AM

Quote from: fitzroyalty on October 05, 2012, 11:59:27 PM
A former high-ranking Israeli military man actually.

Hold on, let's be fair, he was a corporal when he was captured, he was promoted to sergeant in captivity, in no army in the world is that high ranking, irrespective of what people might think of the IDF.

His rank is actually irrelevant. The fact he was in the IDF is enough.

The IDF is a conscript army so being a part of it may not have been his choice.

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 07:53:35 PM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 05:13:06 PM
What they are doing to gaza is a crime against humanity. The truth will come out.

No argument here. As for whether he should be a pariah, perhaps, but a war criminal?

QuoteWar Crimes are those serious violations of the rules of customary and treaty law concerning international humanitarian law that have become accepted as criminal offences for which there is individual responsibility.

Took that from "International Law" by Shaw, it's only one definition obviously, but a standard one.

Sorry for dragging the thread off topic but we lose the moral argument and leave the legitimate issues open to dismissal when we start to sound as unreasonable as those whose actions we object to is all I'm saying.

Fair enough but what Israel is doing to Gaza constitutes a war crime. Two Croatians were sentenced in December for terrorism, bombings and other activities which led to the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian minority population of Crotia, which was a war crime. Israel is rendering Gaza uninhabitable. Shalit shouldn't be feted anywhere. He is part of an evil system.

His ultimate superiors are war criminals.

Like I said I certainly wouldn't argue over the Gaza situation, it's systematic and, apart from everything else, counter productive. I see Shalit as a stooge, willing or otherwise, of the system, not unlike many unfortunate bastards in the UK at the moment that Wills and Harry Hewitt are taking advantage of who die the Afganistan - refusing to accept the lessons of history.

Quote
Why Spain's greatest football match, El Clasico, matters to Palestinians
By Jon Donnison BBC News, Gaza City

Barcelona Football Club arguably brings more joy to Palestinians than any other institution in the world.

That's certainly my impression after almost three years in Gaza and the West Bank.

Every time the Catalans take to the field you can guarantee you'll struggle to get a table in the bars of Ramallah and the shisha-infused coffee shops of Gaza City.

On match day tradesmen touting maroon and gold Barca jerseys set up shop at Qalandia, the traffic-infested Israeli military checkpoint that separates Ramallah from East Jerusalem.

I've lost track of the number of mini Messis I've seen dribbling their way around dusty backstreets.

And if Messi senior and co manage to pull off a win, as of course they nearly always do, the night air is filled with the sound of car horns as supporters crane out of their sunroofs and parade round the streets.

Of course, as the best team in the world in recent years, Barcelona FC has support across the globe.

Everyone loves a winner.

But Palestinians seem to have a particular affinity for the club.

"We can identify with the Catalans and their struggle against the great power of Madrid, like the way we struggle against Israel," one supporter in Ramallah told me with a slightly far-fetched simile.

I can't remember too many signs of military occupation the last time I was strolling down Las Ramblas.

Of course there are a good number of Real Madrid fans here too but they're definitely outnumbered.

You certainly don't meet too many people cheering for Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea, let alone my team Bolton Wanderers.

For Palestinians, Barca rules.

It was with some surprise then that I learned that there were calls for Palestinians to boycott Barcelona FC and in particular this weekend's showdown with Real Madrid, El Clasico.

If ever there was an institution that Palestinians might struggle to turn their backs on, I thought, it would be their beloved Barcelona.

But this is a classic example of how there are few things untouched by politics in this part of the world.

The controversy all started when Israeli government officials put in a request to Barcelona FC for a former Israeli soldier to be able to attend Sunday's game.

Not just any soldier, though.

Gilad Shalit is the young man who spent more than five years as a hostage in Gaza after being captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.

He was eventually freed last year after the Islamist movement Hamas, which governs in Gaza, agreed a prisoner swap with Israel in which more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were handed over in exchange.

Mr Shalit has kept a low profile since his release, with his parents asking for privacy to allow their son to re-adjust to life as a free man.

The 26-year-old is a keen football fan and is believed to support Real Madrid.

Israeli officials put in a request to Barcelona FC, asking whether Mr Shalit could attend the game at the Camp Nou stadium.

The club said yes.

But when the news hit the media, some Palestinian groups called for Barcelona to withdraw their invitation and threatened a boycott.

Hamas officials in Gaza were quoted as saying Barcelona games would no longer be broadcast on television in the Palestinian coastal territory, without adding how they would go about stopping this from happening in practice.

Barcelona FC realised they'd opened something of a can of worms.

Club officials quickly announced that it had also invited three Palestinian representatives to the game, including a Palestinian footballer who spent three years detained in an Israeli jail without ever being formally charged.

Mahmoud Sarsak, who has played for the Palestine national side, was eventually released in July this year after having been on hunger strike - taking only water and vitamins - for three months in protest at his detention.

Israel believes Sarsak is a member of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

Sarsak is a popular figure for Palestinians and Barcelona had hoped that by inviting him to counterbalance Shalit the club might be able to put an end to the controversy.

Not so. Sarsak announced in Gaza that he would not be attending the match on principle.

"I refuse to sit in the same place with a killer who came on a military tank," the former prisoner said, referring to Shalit.

"I respect Barcelona's invitation, but I have to avoid angering the Palestinian people and their supporters as well as all those who supported me during my hunger strike."
Own goal

Sarsak added that he also respected those who believed he should attend the match in order to represent the suffering of Palestinians but said that after giving it a lot of thought he would boycott the game.

Hamas have been keen to trumpet Sarsak's decision, although I suspect they may have plenty of now closeted Barcelona supporters amongst their ranks.

It's worth noting that this row has also highlighted the ability of Hamas and their secular rivals Fatah, who are in power in parts of the West Bank, to disagree on just about anything.

The two other Palestinians offered tickets by Barcelona were Jibril Rajoub, a leading Fatah figure and head of the Palestinian Football Federation and also the Fatah dominated Palestinian Liberation Organisation's ambassador to Spain, Musa Amer Odeh.

When contacted by the BBC on Thursday, Mr Rajoub confirmed he and Ambassador Odeh would not be following Mahmoud Sarsak's example and would be attending the game.

Hamas are likely to try to make political hay.

It's hard not to feel, though, that Hamas and the Palestinian boycott movement have scored something of an own goal here, if you'll pardon the pun.

Most Barcelona fans I've spoken to here have appeared gobsmacked when I've suggested they might put political principles before El Clasico.

"Are you kidding me?" has been the most common reaction.

"I watch football and support Barcelona, because I see only sports, I don't see politics. I won't allow for Israel to deny us from this fun time," says Nasser Ziad, a 25-year-old Barca fan in Gaza.

"I was so sad and disappointed when they announced that the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will attend the Clasico but, personally speaking, I wish Sarsak had accepted the invitation to the match," he said.

"I don't see it as a way of normalisation with Israel. It would have brought more attention to our cause."

Thirty-year-old Ahmed Shafik agreed: "We should turn this into an Israeli-Palestinian Clasico. Sarsak should have gone to Camp Nou and used his presence for the good of our cause."

I've not found any Barcelona fans in either Gaza or the West Bank who've said they won't be positioning themselves in front of a big screen tonight.

It seems unlikely that Hamas will manage to stop the game from being broadcast on satellite channels in Gaza.

But if it does the Islamist movement is not going to make itself very popular.

Most Palestinians probably don't remember Bill Shankly, the legendary former Liverpool manager.

But in the run-up to El Clasico, they would probably appreciate his most famous quote:

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19861023 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19861023)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/07/us-palestinians-israel-barcelona-idUSBRE8960GA20121007

Gazans stage soccer protest at Israeli Shalit's Barcelona visit

(Reuters) - Palestinians freed from Israeli jails held their own version of the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer match on Sunday to protest at the presence of a former captive Israeli soldier at the actual fixture.

The five-a-side kick-about in Gaza comprised mostly of ex-prisoners protesting at Gilad Shalit's presence in Barcelona. He was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in 2006 and they held him for over five years.

Wearing the shirts of the two Spanish giant clubs, the Palestinians called on hosts Barcelona to deny Shalit access to Sunday night's match. They thought he had been invited by the club, although Barcelona has denied this.

"Soccer is a sport that carries the message of freedom and love but we are against it when an (Israeli) soldier is invited, because it equates between the victim and the aggressor," said Yasser Saleh, who spent 17 years in Israeli jails.

Shalit was held by his captors in solitary confinement in the Gaza Strip that is ruled by Islamist faction Hamas until his release last October. He was discharged earlier this year and has been seen at many Israeli sports events.

Barcelona said they had accepted Shalit's request to attend Sunday's clash between two of the world's most successful outfits. But when Palestinians thought the club had initiated the invitation, they vowed to protest.

To redress the balance, Barcelona invited Mahmoud Sarsak, a former Palestinian soccer player who was released from an Israeli jail in July where he was held for three years without charge, Palestinian sports supremo Jibril Rajoub, and another representative.

"The club did not invite Mr. Shalit to the game, but accepted a request to watch a match during his visit to Barcelona ... In the same manner ... the club has also accepted the Palestinian embassy's request to extend three invitations to three Palestinian delegates," the club said on its website.

"Barcelona has always wanted to promote peace and harmony in the Middle East."

Sarsak said he would not share the same stadium with Shalit. It was not immediately clear whether the other two attended.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have a huge following among Gaza's 1.6 million population.

In a small protest in front of the Spanish consulate in East Jerusalem, a group of some 30 demonstrators held up placards with the club's insignia daubed in red paint signifying blood, and at least one trampled on a Barcelona shirt.

As Shilat was watching the match, Israel just went about doing what it does best:

Two critically hurt in Israeli air strike on Gaza: medics
 
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Two Palestinians were in critical condition and eight others wounded in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said, revising an earlier account of one dead.

The attack targeted a motorbike in the Brazil neighourhood of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources told AFP.

A medical source at Rafah hospital later said two Palestinians belonging to Salafist movements were in critical condition following the attack that wounded eight others, including five children.
Palestinian medical sources named the two Salafists as Talaat Halil Mohammed Dirbi, who lost both legs in the attack, and Abdullah Mohammed Hassan Maqawai.

The Israeli military confirmed the strike in a statement, saying its aircraft targeted jihadists Talaat Halil Mohammed Jarbi and Maqawai.

According to the army, Jarbi was long "involved in extensive terrorist activity, targeting Israeli civilian and security forces, including rocket firing, weapon manufacturing and other terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip."

He was a "senior operative" involved in planning and carrying out an attack along the border security fence on June 18 in which an Israeli civilian was killed, it said.

"He had also been planning a complex attack intended to take place along the Sinai border."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5P0mMi7fNkDl1Csk8XZjwJVv4mg?docId=CNG.4e5f8b8802c1a5b6fb7ceeabc796f739.8c1

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/04/2013422233120394510.html

Palestinian prisoner agrees to end fast

A Palestinian prisoner held by Israel has agreed to end an on-off hunger strike that lasted for more than eight months in exchange for an early release, Palestinian officials say.

The fast by Samer al-Issawi, from a suburb of Jerusalem, had stoked weeks of street protests and concerns by Israel that his death might lead to mass unrest.

Issawi on Monday agreed to a deal brokered by Israeli and Palestinian officials to serve eight months for allegedly violating bail conditions for an earlier release, after which he will be freed to his Jerusalem home, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian prisoner organisation, told Reuters news agency.

Issawi's lawyer and sister conveyed the offer just before midnight to his bedside in Israel's Kaplan hospital, where he had been under Israeli guard and receiving intravenous vitamins but was refusing food.

Israel convicted Issawi of opening fire on an Israeli bus in 2002, but released him in 2011 along with more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held hostage by the Hamas movement in Gaza.

Conspiracy charges

Issawi was re-arrested last July after Israel said he violated the terms of his release by crossing from his native East Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank, and ordered the 32-year-old to stay in jail until 2029 - his original sentence.

An Israeli official told Reuters last week that Issawi had crossed into the West Bank as part of "continued involvement in attempting to establish terror cells".

Monday's deal dispenses with conspiracy charges and will see Issawi serve eight months for leaving Jerusalem - a decision Palestinian officials say will likely be endorsed by an Israeli military court on Tuesday.

Both Palestinian and Israeli officials have visited Issawi frequently in recent weeks to reach a compromise and pre-empt the violence his death could provoke.

Israel holds about 4,800 Palestinians it accuses of committing or planning violence against it. Palestinian officials say 207 Palestinian security prisoners have died in Israeli jails since 1948.

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 10:01:31 AM
They were making the same jokes about Bobby Sands in Ballymena in 1981, bigfella.
It's just ignorance. Would you joke about the Holocaust? Of course not.

That is rich coming from the man who was on a constant troll on the Boston thread. An 8 year old was killed and all you want to do is go off on your usual anti-American rants  ::)

Also, the way you cynically use the troubles to get lads from the North  "onside" is laughable. It is so transparent.     

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 09:27:27 PM

Quote from: Mentalman on October 06, 2012, 07:53:35 PM

Quote from: seafoid on October 06, 2012, 05:13:06 PM
What they are doing to gaza is a crime against humanity. The truth will come out.

No argument here. As for whether he should be a pariah, perhaps, but a war criminal?

QuoteWar Crimes are those serious violations of the rules of customary and treaty law concerning international humanitarian law that have become accepted as criminal offences for which there is individual responsibility.

Took that from "International Law" by Shaw, it's only one definition obviously, but a standard one.

Sorry for dragging the thread off topic but we lose the moral argument and leave the legitimate issues open to dismissal when we start to sound as unreasonable as those whose actions we object to is all I'm saying.

Fair enough but what Israel is doing to Gaza constitutes a war crime. Two Croatians were sentenced in December for terrorism, bombings and other activities which led to the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian minority population of Crotia, which was a war crime. Israel is rendering Gaza uninhabitable. Shalit shouldn't be feted anywhere. He is part of an evil system.

His ultimate superiors are war criminals.

So is Shalit a war criminal or not ? You said he was and now you seem to be backtracking. If so, why did you say he was a war criminal in the first place ?

Do you actually believe what you say or do you just say these things to rabble rouse ? I suspect the latter.

People like you are the worst thing that ever happened to the Palestinian cause.

No sign of Seafoid. No doubt he is scurrying around the lanes off banhofstrasse distributing his ill-gotten gains.

I hope Kerry make it past round 4 of the qualifiers this year.