(Photo: Getty Images)
After a 92-day battle between Mahmoud Sarsak’s empty stomach and Israeli imprisonment without charge, today the Palestinian soccer star ended his hunger strike by biting into a morsel of chocolate.
Sarsak’s attorney, Mohammad Jaberein confirmed this afternoon the footballer from Gaza had reached a deal with prison authorities for a July 10, 2012 release.
Mohammad Jaberein said al-Sarsak signed the agreement during his visit to the prisoner on Monday. Israeli prison authorities asked al-Sarsak to eat something in their presence to ratify the deal, after which he took a piece of chocolate from the lawyer, Jaberein said.
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Under the deal al-Sarsak will visit a civilian hospital for treatment on Tuesday, but the same day will return to Ramle prison clinic until his release on July 10, the lawyer added.
Soccer player Federic Kanoute supporting Sarsak. (Photo: Reuters)
Sarsak’s release follows international uproar by soccer superstars who stomped their feet against his three-year incarceration ordered by Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law,” a draconian form of administrative detention that offers little hope for freedom. In this form of imprisonment, detainees are tasked with proving their innocence for unknown crimes, and– more impossible– proving they are not a future threat to Israel. In light of a non-existent path to freedom within Israel’s legal system, Sarsak’s freedom was achieved only after a near-death hunger strike, with an assist from the international professional footballers association, FIFPro, and sports superstar Eric Cantona.
The Nation‘s sports correspondent, Dave Zirin, points to the head of FIFPro, Sepp Blatter, as a driving force behind Sarsak’s release. But Zirin contends Blatter’s agitation was a result of arm-twisting and not political principles:
It’s safe to say that if Sarsak had died, and Blatter had done nothing, the outrage could have ended his tenure at the top of the sport. It also could have imperiled not only the 2013 UEFA tournament in Israel, already targeted by Europe’s ‘Red Card Israeli Apartheid’ movement, but the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. If there was a nuclear war, I’m convinced that only roaches and Blatter would walk away unscathed.
Now that Sarsak’s release has been announced, Israel has said to the press that they believed him to be in the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad. These accusations are news to Sarsak’s lawyer, his family, and his friends. This is someone whose only crime was attempting to cross a border to play soccer. His arrest is seen much more as part of a broader effort to degrade this ‘national team without a nation’ than anything he may have done off the pitch. Given what we know, it’s remarkable that it took Blatter and friends three years to say something, But it’s equally remarkable to all involved that international solidarity and awareness forced Israel’s hand.
Blatter’s feeble call for due process surely had an effect, but Sarsak’s case is most compelling as a keyhole into Israel’s system of meticulously planned injustice masquerading as a security state, and the use of administrative detention where there is no reasonable process for appeal. With convictions in military courts at an unfathomable 99.7%, nearly dying and a worldwide grassroots campaign is the fee for a slither of justice.
“Israel’s system of meticulously planned injustice masquerading as a security state, and the use of administrative detention where there is no reasonable process for appeal. With convictions in military courts at an unfathomable 99.7%, nearly dying and a worldwide grassroots campaign is the fee for a slither of justice.”
Exactly.
“In this form of imprisonment, detainees are tasked with proving their innocence for unknown crimes * * *” [1] The USA does similar, whereby secret evidence is used to convict, but the secret is not available to the accused or his lawyer so that he cannot respond to it — unless by accident — either to the alleged facts or to the credibility of the (unknown) accuser. (“Oh, Fred, Fred said that? He owes me $1000 which he doesn’t want to pay. Here is the IOU.”) AND [2] “and– more impossible– proving they are not a future threat to Israel. ” (Oh, well, a specially draconian form of preventive detention.)
If the USA had this draconian preventive detention, maybe someone could detain ALL the AIPAC honchos (who, of course, could not prove they were not a threat to USA). Just sayin’.
The best news I heard all day. So happy he never became another statistic of this mammon nightmare.
Great video relating to him:
link to youtube.com
hey blake, that is a great video. cried when i watched it….
link to mondoweiss.net
Thanks Annie I saw that only after I posted my comment/link. It was heartening to see.
And let’s be frank – it’s going to be a bittersweet sort of freedom for Sarsak; a hunger strike of the duration he has undertaken will have caused great damage to his body and he’ll probably have health problems for the rest of his life.
Which will suit the spiteful zio-supremacist nation just fine. Maybe he’ll even go abroad for medical attention and they can deny him entry when he tries to return. Oh happy days for Israel!
I feel for him, a young boy who just wanted to play soccer, who’ll never be able to realize his full professional potential.
Inconceivable as it is, he got off lightly compared to many other Palestinians: He lost his career and his health. The most tragic thing about this story is that there are those who have suffered even more than Sarsak, losing their lives, their land and their loved ones. And in saying that, I do not at all mean to diminish the suffering and sacrifice of this brave and remarkable man.
Press Release June 19, 2012
It took three months of hunger strike before decision was reached to release the Palestinians soccer player held without trial and without charges
In this affair the state of Israel scored an own goal
It is good that the decision makers came to their senses at the last moment and agreed to set free soccer player Mahmoud Sarsak, member of the Palestinian National Team – averting his imminent death in the Israeli prison. It is a pity that it took three months of hunger strike, which might leave its marks on his health for life. The fact that it was now agreed to release him casts grave doubts on the secret and unknowable ‘security considerations’ which had led to Sarsak’s detention in the first place and which have now suddenly evaporated and disappeared.
Those responsible for this detention have clearly scored an Israeli own goal. A senior Palestinian soccer player was detained and held in Israeli prisons for years, without trial, without charges and with no evidence given of any illegal act. The State of Israel exposed itself to sharp protests by such renowned soccer players as Eric Cantona, who just a few years ago held a friendly visit to Israel and participated in a tournament at Netanya and has now become a harsh critic of Israeli policies. The International Football Federation felt obliged to speak up and use its influence to save a Palestinian soccer player whose life was in danger. It is worth remembering that the global sports boycott on Apartheid South Africa began when it became clear that the policy of oppression and discrimination against Blacks had direct and tangible effects in sports. More generally, it is worth remembering that the occupation, lasting already for forty-five years, entails daily acts of oppression against the Palestinians, an oppression which is inevitably leading Israel to international isolation and the status of a pariah nation.
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom
And probably only because FIFA got involved. They don’t care about the life of a Palestinian, just what the western world thinks.
They are doped out of their heads on Judeosuperiority at this stage and because they have gotten away with YESHA for so long they think the goys accept that the Palestinians are Untermenschen. And THAT is the height of folly.
Judeosuperiority has nothing to offer to Platini.
thank you allison.
i tried writing something about him…for some reason i have shed a bucket of tears over this man. the symbol of him i suppose. and all the people who will never go free because there is no famous or powerful sports person to lend his name or no tournament coveted by israel …and all the others from the team who have been targeted and killed, and how he will, maybe, probably, never play professionally again, and for so many other reasons like how many more ..how many children are sitting in high school and playing soccer and will be targetted by israel in the next few years when it becomes apparent they are the up coming stars and leaders. because palestine is not allowed them, israel wants them all in prison. youth taken away. strong beautiful men. women. children. it just goes on and on and on. and that is why i couldn’t write about it.
Hey Annie, I agree completely. I don’t know why either, but this one case hit me harder than the others. It’s funny how some tragedies seem bigger than others. I think of the fuss made about the deaths of some celebrities, Michael Jackson comes to mind. Their expression touched and inspired millions of people, and their passing is felt by them all. I felt the same way about Sarsak and Juliano Mer-Khamis of the Freedom Theatre.
Every single Palestinian hunger striker had the same potential, the same spark of life and wonder that could touch people a world away. It frightens me to think how quickly it could have been snuffed out, with not a whimper beyond their mourning relatives.
Sometimes I think it’s an indulgence, that going off the connection we feel with them becomes an almost self-centered reaction. Then there’s the guilt at living such a privileged life while there is so much suffering. There’s only so much I can do, but I swear I’m going to do all of it.
in the spirit of the invincible
mahmoud sarsak is every palestinian
willing to die
for his people
that palestine be free