Young Gaza footballers in Galway in 2016. |
They feel as though the wider world has
forgotten about them.
They live in what has been described as the
world’s biggest open-air prison camp, 1.8 million of them crammed into a tiny
strip of just 140 square miles, and they want the world to remember that they
exist – and that they are finding it almost impossible to breathe.
For 11 years now, they have been blocked into
an area which is smaller than County Louth by fences, bullets, and occasional
bombs.
Travel is an impossible dream for most of
them, a life-saving hospital visit can become a logistical nightmare, and even
the fishermen risk being murdered if they dare to venture just a few miles
offshore.
Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe in the
making and yet when the local people protest, as they have done in their
thousands over the past three weeks, they are demonised, dehumanised, and
gunned down.
Shot at by snipers located behind a
fortified fence, murdered, or hospitalised, for daring just to protest, even if
they are unarmed.
If it happened closer to home, there would
be an international outrage. The perpetrators would be hauled before the
International Criminal Court for shooting unarmed protesters but, in Gaza, life
just goes on.
Irish people can relate to the slaughter
surrounding the Great Return March because the shooting of protesters at the
border fence has been described as Gaza’s ‘Bloody Sunday’, the terrible day in
Derry when the murder of 14 people by occupying soldiers traumatised a city and
prolonged a terrible conflict for decades.
The Great Return March is a desperate plea
by a desperate people to be heard, it’s also a courageous declaration that
refugees who were run out of their homes and villages have a right to freedom,
a right to return, and to forge out some sort of a life for themselves.
The vast majority of those crammed in
behind the fence in Gaza are refugees from what is now the south of Israel. Some
of them even have the keys of the houses their family members fled in terror
seven decades ago.
An old Palestinian man holds the keys to his former family home in what is now Israel |
The Gaza Strip was designated as a place to
imprison them after they were forced to flee their homes. Israeli soldiers and
‘settlers’ may have withdrawn from the tiny enclave 11 years ago, but every
movement in and out of the strip by land, air, or sea is controlled by Egypt
and Israel.
If you need life-changing treatment in Israel,
you face harassment and humiliation at the Erez crossing, if you are even
allowed through at all. You might have family members just a few miles away in
Jerusalem or the West Bank, but visiting them has become an impossible dream.
And yet the tendency among many members of
the Western media is to demonise and dehumanise these people who are crying out
for some sort of a shot at having normal lives.
When unarmed protesters are shot by armed
snipers, and hundreds end up in hospitals, the shootings are described as
“clashes” as though they were some sort of exchange between equals.
In the first three weeks of the Great
Return March, 34 people were killed and at least 1,500 were injured, rushed to
hospitals which are already struggling to cope in the face of the 11 year
siege.
In Gaza, life is anything but normal.
When the talented young footballers from a
soccer academy in Gaza came to Ireland in 2016, the complications surrounding
the trip brought home to Irish people just how horrible life is for ordinary
Palestinians on the strip.
The trip was delayed by three weeks,
forcing a raft of cancellations of flights, accommodations, and games. The
Israeli authorities decided at the last minute that the boys and their mentors
from the Al-Helal academy were not allowed out of Gaza.
Irish activists, who had been planning the
trip for three years, were crushed. A lot of organisation had gone into
sourcing host families, clubs to play ‘friendly’ matches, and a schedule which
would allow them to make the most of their ten days in Ireland.
Then, suddenly, almost three weeks after
the trip was called off, the Israeli authorities allowed 14 of the 15 boys on
the squad to travel, along with two of the seven adults who were supposed to
accompany them to Ireland.
The only talented young footballer who was
refused permission to travel, Karam Zaidan, was badly injured when Israel
bombed Gaza in 2009.
The only reason anyone could come up with
for his omission from the squad was concern among the Israeli authorities that
his visible facial injuries would upset Irish people or cause them to ask too
many questions.
Only two of the seven adults who were
supposed to travel were allowed through the militarized Erez checkpoint which
blocks Palestinians in Gaza off from the international airport at Tel Aviv and
any connection with the outside world.
The two adults who did travel with the boys
were visibly stressed by the trials and tribulations of having to look after
the youngsters whose lives have been scarred by bombing attacks and the
deprivation caused by the relentless 11 year siege.
No explanation was given when exit permits
were denied to five of the coaches and child psychologists from the academy,
which attracts the best young footballers from throughout Gaza.
And yet the boys represented Gaza, and
Palestine, with so much pride. They won all six games on their Irish tour,
outplaying Irish boys of the same age who were in some cases twice their size.
The Al-Helal boys represented Palestine with such pride Photo courtesy of John Kelly, Co Clare |
Footballers in Gaza are subjected to
controls and restrictions which would be unthinkable to their counterparts in
any country in Europe.
They are regularly harassed at checkpoints,
prevented from travelling, and forced to cancel games. The Al-Helal ground in
northern Gaza, where the boys play their home games, was bombed by Israel
in 2012 and again in 2014.
And yet the children from Gaza have
delighted Irish people when they were allowed to visit Ireland over the past
two summers.
Those of us who met the boys were struck by
how serious and proud they were about representing Palestine, how courteous
they were to their hosts, and how keen they were to present a positive image to
the world.
The children appreciated the trips all the
more because they were acutely aware of how rare it is for a team from Gaza to
represent the enclave in any part of the world.
Children in Gaza are among the most
traumatised in the world. Many of the Al-Helal boys were emotionally scarred by
the 2014 Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip, in which more than 2,250
Palestinians, including 551 children, were killed.
Although the world has quickly moved on
from that atrocity, most of us can remember the image of the four little boys
playing on a beach – aged nine to 11 – who were killed by an Israeli missile
that year.
Innocence and all hope for the future are
lost when the simple act of playing hide ‘n’ seek on a beach is punishable by
death.
And yet, repeatedly, we hear that the
people of Gaza deserve their terrible fate, that they must be punished for
voting for the appalling ‘terrorists’ of Hamas.
Two days after 30 unarmed people, including
a journalist, were shot dead by his troops the Israeli Defence Minister,
Avigdor Lieberman, said there were “no innocent people” in the entire Gaza
strip.
“There are no innocent people in the Gaza
Strip,” Lieberman told Israel’s public radio. “Everyone’s connected to Hamas,
everyone gets a salary from Hamas, and all the activists trying to challenge us
and breach the border are Hamas military wing activists.”
Presumably, his comments include even the
little 10 to 14 year old boys – much smaller and yet more skilful than their
Irish counterparts – who captured the hearts and minds of Irish people with
their skills, dignity, and innocence over the past two summers.
So when Dublin City Council votes to
support the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to
pressurise Israel to end the occupation and obey international law, the
councillors are not being racist or prejudiced.
They are supporting a people who are living
under a horrible occupation.
When Galway City Council votes to call on
the Irish Government to recognise the state of Palestine, they are not neglecting
their duties to the people of their own city. Rather, they are trying to give a
tiny glimmer of hope to desperate people living under occupation who are
inspired by Ireland’s own struggle for self-determination.
The people of Gaza only want to remind us
that they exist and, like everyone else, they are entitled to some sort of a
decent life.
·
The gifted young footballers
from the Al-Helal Football Academy are due to return to Ireland from July 28 to
August. To find out more, to raise funds or awareness for the trip, or to help
out in any way you can find details at http://gazaactionireland.weebly.com/gaza-kids-to-ireland-2017.html
Thanks to Sean Ryan, John Kelly (Clare), and Andrew Downes (Xposure.ie) for the photos.
Thanks to Sean Ryan, John Kelly (Clare), and Andrew Downes (Xposure.ie) for the photos.
Ciaran Tierney is a journalist, blogger, and digital storyteller based in Galway, Ireland. Find him on Facebook at http;//facebook.com/ciarantierneymedia/
Marching in solidarity with the people of Gaza on the streets of Galway. Photo by Ciaran Tierney. |