Palestinian footballer, Mahmoud Sarsak, released after 3 years in an Israel jail

[give her dixie]

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".

[give her dixie]

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."

[dillinger]

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.

[give her dixie]

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.

[stew]

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?

[michaelg]

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

[give her dixie]

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

[give her dixie]

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.

[magpie seanie]

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.

[seafoid]

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

[give her dixie]

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.

[give her dixie]

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.

We 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

[seafoid]

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

[give her dixie]

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.
 

[dillinger]

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.