Mahmoud Al Sarsak poster
While news is scarce about the health condition of Palestinian footballer, Mahmoud Sarsak, who has been on an 88-day hunger strike, ironically there are numerous reports about the Israeli PM pulling a tendon during a staged football event for an upcoming travel documentary.
Middle East Online is reporting that Mahmoud Sarsak is now negotiating with the Israeli authorities who have agreed to his release. The web news site claims that Sarsak is demanding that he be given a release date in writing. Sarsak is said to have previously rejected a proposal of exile to Norway.
Earlier AFP reported that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) announced today that Sarsak had ended his hunger strike, but gave no further details. The prisoner’s family in Gaza reacted to the report by denying that the footballer had agreed to end his fast.
Mahmoud Sarsak was been incarcerated by Israel for nearly three years as an “unlawful combatant.” He has never been charged with a crime, given any indication when he may be released, or been offered any avenue of legal redress.
There seems to be a complete blackout in the Israeli press concerning Sarsak’s situation, in contrast to the considerable news coverage of other recent hunger strikers who had reached a life- threatening point in their protests. Numerous Palestinian officials have expressed fear that the death of a prisoner on a hunger strike would lead to violent protests.
In a bizarre juxtaposition, the Israeli press reported today that PM Netanyahu, who is now in a cast, pulled a tendon while playing football with young students. He heroically, it was dutifully reported, shook off the injury and scored a goal.
Bibi’s minor injury is a big news story in Israel while the fate of Sarsak, who is considered a hero among many Palestinians, is ignored. Maybe the Israelis have simply decided that information about their treatment of Palestinian political prisoners is simply bad news.
that is because he is a palestinian with star quality, he is a celebrity. a sports star. israel’s incarceration against him is a sadistic form of punishment to the entire society by taking away a person they loved who brought them entertainment thru sports. not even politics but sports. they do not want palestinians having celebrities.
they do not want the world percieving palestinians as celebrities. there is a very narrow window with which they are allowed to operate in terms of fame.
and successful sports stars is not in that window!
Bibi had a fraudian slip.
A good example of the total denial practiced in Israel with regards to Palestine and the original inhabitants of their land. The cruelty and sadism of locking up somebody without charge or recourse to the law is one of Israel’s specialities, and it applies to any Palestinian who dares be distinguished, resists the occupation peacefully, speaks out of turn or just exists where Israel doesn’t like. Israel’s depravity and vindictiveness knows no bounds, and its utter indifference, as demonstrated here, to human beings who have the wrong parents, is a disgrace to the human race. They make me feel ill.
“Bibi’s minor injury is a big news story in Israel while the fate of Sarsak, who is considered a hero among many Palestinians, is ignored.”
Because a large number of twisted, deranged people make the decisions in that state.
The blackout ended. Electronic Intifada has many details, Times of Israel, convenient few.
A piece of good news is that International Federation of Football Professionals issued a letter , and although FIFPro is not FIFA, it is not an organization that can be dismissed as easily as, say, UN General Assembly. We are talking about the sport of Gods here, while no nation r_e_a_l_l_y has to play with Israel.