(Image: Carlos Latuff)
Although Israeli officials reported that prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak had ended his hunger strike, today Sarsak’s lawyer confirmed to Ma’an News Agency that the football star did not break and is now in his 86th day of fast. However, speaking to Ma’an, Sarsak’s attorney, Mohammad Jabarein, confirmed the footballer did ease his strike by drinking milk, although only when Jabarein fed it to him. Sarsak agreed to drink in order to stay alive for his final appeal, which is scheduled on Thursday.
Despite Sarsak’s softening of his hunger strike, Jabarein told Ma’an that if the soccer player does not win his last appeal, he wioll continue the strike until his death.
Sarsak’s strike has received less news coverage than other recent hunger strikers, including Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi. However, Palestinian activists on the ground have continued to support Sarsak by playing soccer in protest outside of Ofer prison, in Ramallah, in Gaza and in Bethlehem, and launching Twitter campaigns using the hashtag #footballshero.
Update: Here is a petition drive in which footballers call on Michel Platini, head of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), to urge the release of Sarsak.
Last Friday, after weeks of pressure from organizers, the federation of professional football players FIFPro released a statement calling to end Sarsak’s detention:
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.
In 2009, while en route to the West Bank from Gaza to play on Palestine’s football team, Sarsak was arrested by Israeli authorities using a law designed to detain Lebanese nationals thought to have affiliation with Hezbollah. Since 2000, the “Unlawful Combatants Law” was used to imprison Palestinians from Gaza under harsher conditions than administrative detention.
(Image: Carlos Latuff)
It got a lot of attention from the MSM yesterday as FIFA boss Sepp Mayer called on the Israeli Football Association to speak on his behalf. Today Eric Cantona spoke up too: “French football icon Eric Cantona on Tuesday joined in calls for the release of Palestinian footballer Mahmud Sarsak, who is on hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
In a letter sent to British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson and UEFA President Michel Platini, the former Manchester United forward said Israel should be subjected to the same scrutiny faced by Euro 2012 hosts Poland and Ukraine.
Left-wing critic Noam Chomsky and film director Ken Loach were also among those who signed the letter.”
link to uk.news.yahoo.com
It’s worth remembering the hunger strike of Bobby Sands, who was unambiguously a member of the Provisional IRA. Sands got mountains of very sympathetic coverage in the US press, not to mention glowing support from the Kennedys and from the likes of Rep. Peter King (who continues to deny that any Irishmen ever committed an act of terrorism of any kind).
As well he should have.
Jibril Rajoub, the former head of the Palestinian Preventive Forces in the West Bank, is now head of the Palestinian Football Assoc. Can you believe that? Today he sent a letter to the head of the UEFA requesting that the scheduled 2013 Under 21 UEFA tournament in Israel by canceled in protest for Israeli illegal incarceration of Palestinian football players.
The Israeli Football Association issue this statement:
“We are certain that FIFA and UEFA will not mix politics with soccer and are certain that the Under-21 European Championship will take place, as decided, in Israel next summer.”
The Israeli newspaper web site, Yediot Achronot, ran the Sarsak story today.
Although, it had been reported that the Sarsak had a scheduled court appearance today (Thurs.) which would determine his fate, no reports about that appearance were made available.
awesome ira, remember it was sports that got to south african morale.
Annie, good point about protests relating to sports. Maybe the very active pro-Palestinian community in Britain will organize protests of Israeli team in Olympics. Although, the problem would be that memories of the tragedy in Munich 72 would cloud issue.
Still no word on Sarsak since earlier this week.
Here is the article referred to above in the English edition.
link to ynetnews.com
Ira ~ The full history of Munich 72 very much needs to be discussed, but Israel has much to lose as a result.
Topic: Israel’s dirty secret from 1972, the revenge military attacks that Israel perpetrated in the days after the Israelis athletes were killed at Munich.
Nearly 300 Palestinian refugees – men, women and children – were killed when Israeli fighters bombed refugees camps in Syria and Lebanon, and sent ground troops into Lebanon. It was the single largest mobilisation of the IDF since 1967 – and hardly anybody knows about it.
At the time the UN drew up a condemning resolution which the US vetoed, the first time of many that the US has stuck a spanner in the working of the international justice system to protect Israel.
Israel makes much hay about Munich in 1972 , and they talk about the then-secret campaign to track down and kill the perpetrators, but they never discuss those military attacks on Palestinian civilians for obvious reasons.
Actually, Israel has even asked for a minutes silence at the London Olympics to commemorate the event. No such request has been issued for the 300 Palestinian civilians Israel killed in revenge, however.
I wonder how much sympathy Israel will be able to milk as more and more info about the cruelty of Zionism seeps out. Sports events seem like one of the best arenas to get the news out.
Even the 1972 Olympics killings- how many Palestinians were murdered in revenge ?
Sumud and Seafoid, Thanks for making these points. They are important.
“We are certain that FIFA and UEFA will not mix politics with soccer and are certain that the Under-21 European Championship will take place, as decided, in Israel next summer.”
Such vehemence is rarely convincing
Next year’s u21 could be a lightning rod for opposition to Zionism.
Glasgow Celtic fans are notably pro Palestinian .
link to smpalestine.com
link to en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com
Despite being cynical as hell about Israeli rationalizations and excuses for their meticulous and unrelenting humiliation of Palestinians, When this condition (from the Yahoo link):
begets this response (also from your second link):
I just have to shake my head.
Just stop doing it Israel. There is zero justification for detaining footballers. It’s the simplest of things to not do. You just have to not do it. They (and Sandra Tamari) are not bringing in contraband. They are going to play a game.
But you’re right, seafoid. The level of global cognitive dissonance that has to be managed through strenuous Israeli PR in order for Israel to appear normal (and get plums like the UEFA U21 tourney) is unsustainable. It would be impossible to counter or manage the effect of more “ultras” (your first link) around the world get wind of this and start routinely raising awareness of the Palestinian cause (cue mental image of a stadium wave…). The machine is breaking down, as you have said so often.
Sporting boycott of South Africa during the Apartheid era
link to en.wikipedia.org
God Bless Glasgow Celtic – I wish my club – Liverpool – with Shankly and his ‘left-wing’(socialist, Unionist) philosophy, would take a stand on Zionist crimes in Palestine and even the UK…mind, I’m sure there are some supporters who – like me – do….
Human rights are universal. I just dont get it why should this be limited only to “left wing” side of people. Now dont get me wrong, as i also wholeheartedly support boycott against any wrong doers, any place who ever did it/do it.
I dropped long time ago my political stand to any direction, be it right, left or center or what ever we like to call them. Same goes with religion. I dont like hear from someone else how should i believe. Its between me and my God. If there is a such. And again same goes with politics. I dont wanna hear how my opinions should be in this and that matter. Or is that now or isnt politically correct.
This wasn’t aimed at anyone, just came to my mind reply in this topic. No need to reply, my wife does that to me all the time ;).
Ironic too when “Israel” is not even in Europe.
Ritzl
Now that the 2ss has been murdered I think we are going to see more independent pressure emerging from communities like Glasgow Celtic and other non governmental groupings of people who believe in decency and justice. I think somehow that the cycle of twice yearly football tournaments and 4 yearly olympics when humanity gets together to celebrate and share what is basically honest and exceptional have a lot of potential to catalyse opposition to Israel. Most football fans are ordinary people who don’t belive in racism or bigotry and Israel is so far away from that church now and is only getting further away as time progresses.
If EUFA has any credibility at all they’ll drop that tournament in Israel immedietely – they had no problem dropping Yugoslavia from international competition during the Balkan conflict – tell me why they don’t do the same for a much worse situation….?
Yugoslavia could have won that tournament as well. They had a fabulous team. Denmark got in instead and won it.
Richard Falk has the most fascinating article on his blog, comparing Palestinian prisoner hunger strikers and US Soldiers in Afghanistan committing suicides at the rate of one suicide every day. He speaks of these deaths as sacrifices to the God of War, these pathetic dead American soldiers, who could not live with all of the civilians they maimed and killed and were still expected to keep maiming and killing through endless deployments, so they took and are still taking their own lives. We see in his article a picture of The War On Terror and the real victims of it, not just civilians or combatants killed in hostilities, but individuals sacrificing their lives because of the conditions of life the war has created for them.
“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.”
link to aljazeera.com
link to examiner.com
No news about about Mahmoud Sarsak’s condition, but this is the latest.