AFPThe players of the Palestinian national team listen to the national anthem during a match in 2021
NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 06:17
Mitra Nazar
correspondent Turkey
Mitra Nazar
correspondent Turkey
“They are still alive,” said Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association. From her office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, she breathes a sigh of relief.
Shalabi is talking about three players from the Palestinian football team from Gaza. Before the war broke out, it was already impossible to get them out of Gaza. And now that is completely impossible. “We are very concerned. It is not safe anywhere in Gaza anymore.”
The three players, Ibrahim Abuimeir, Khaled Al-Nabris, and Ahmed Al-Kayed, are now on the reserve list for the World Cup qualifier to be played today. They are the only three international players of the Palestinian national team who come from Gaza. The rest play in the West Bank, or belong to the diaspora: Palestinians living abroad.
Deafening silence
Shalabi stares into the distance, across the empty raked field of the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Ramallah, the home of Palestinian football. Football here has been completely at a standstill since October 7.
“The silence is deafening,” she sighs. Tensions are also rising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Football Association is headquartered. The competition has stopped, training is no longer taking place.
But Shalabi’s mind is mainly in Gaza. “We feel powerless. There is nothing we can do for our people there. We are in shock at the disproportionate destruction of Gaza and the rising death toll. And also at the international silence, the fact that the events are being allowed.”
Vice-chairman of the Palestinian Federation maintains the website of deceased football players
A few days after the start of the war, Shalabi started receiving names of killed football players, referees, national team employees and youth players from the academy in Gaza. She decided to put a face to the names and post their photos on a website . She scrolls down. Dozens of photos pass by. Above it is a name and sometimes some more information.
Shalabi visits them: Rachid Dabbour, player at the Gazan club Ahli Beit Hanoun. “He was a candidate for the national team. He was killed in a bombing on October 10.”
Emad and Mohammad Akram Hijazi, talents from the ‘Score’ youth academy in Rafah. “Two brothers, died together with their entire family.” Omar Al-Kilani. “He was a football association referee, killed in a bombing.”
Sixty football players
The list is long. About sixty dead football players are listed and new names are added regularly. Yahia Manhal, coach of the Gazan club Shabab Rafah. Mohammad Al-Ghazali, youth player of the second division club Al-Sadaqa.
“I call it a place of remembrance,” Shalabi says of her website. “Most of the victims are youth players.”
He has placed his children with relatives in different places. So that he doesn’t lose them all at once if a bomb falls.
Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association
In addition to Ramallah, the Palestinian Football Association also has a branch in Gaza. Shalabi is in daily contact with her colleagues there. “I try to call every day. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
The chairman of the Gaza chapter had to flee to the south of the Gaza Strip, she says. “He is constantly moving his family. He has placed his children with relatives in different places so that he does not lose them all at once if a bomb falls.”
Hoop
Despite the war, the Palestinian team’s World Cup qualifiers continue. It was not an easy decision, but it was an important one. “It gives people hope that the football team represents them.”
Although the Palestinians do not have their own state, there is a national football team. Since 1998 it has been officially recognized by FIFA. In 2015 and 2019, the team participated in the Asian Championship, where it failed in the group stage.
NOSSusan Shalabi is the vice-chairman of the Palestinian Football Association
The Palestinian team has also qualified for the upcoming Asian Championship that starts in January in Qatar. But first two qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup are on the program. Today an away match against Lebanon, which will be played in the United Arab Emirates, and on Tuesday a ‘home match’ with Australia in Kuwait.
Training in Jordan
It was not easy to get all the players out of the country, says Shalabi. Tensions have been high since the war. “The football players were worried. They didn’t want to leave their families behind. No one knows if it will escalate here too.”
“In the end they all came and we sent the team to Jordan for a training camp. That was a brave decision, for which I have great respect.”
The Palestinian players will be on the field with mixed feelings. Because the list of dead footballers that Shalabi keeps is getting longer every day. She looks at a photo of one of the killed youth talents in his tracksuit. “I wonder what he dreamed of, what he wanted to become,” she sighs. “It’s too painful to watch.”
2023-11-16 05:17:41
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