Israeli, Palestinian peace by soccer?
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Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.
Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.
Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.
Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.
Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.
The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.
Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.
Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.
Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.
Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.
Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.
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(CNN) — Yael Lee-Weiss shakes her head the moment the words “boycott” and “Beitar Jerusalem” are uttered in her direction.
With the football world’s attention on Israel as it hosts the European Under-21 Championship Finals, the country’s image and politics are both very much to the fore.
For a woman who spends each and every moment combating racism and discrimination, last February’s incident when Beitar fans burnt down the club’s administrative offices in protest at the signing of two Chechen Muslims still rankles.
Beitar, a club with fiercely right-wing fans, is infamous for its racist attitude towards Arab players, but the severity of the attack still caused surprise.
“It’s about education and showing these people that their views will not be tolerated,” she told CNN in Tel Aviv.
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“It’s why I do what I do. It’s why Mifalot is here.”
Action
Mifalot, an initiative backed by one of the biggest club sides in Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv, brings together children from all backgrounds — not just across Israel and the Palestinian territories, but from countries across the world.
The non-governmental organization, which has a center at Hapoel’s training ground, runs over 300 projects across the globe including Angola, Benin, India, Rwanda, Cameroon and Haiti.
Backed by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, and funded by a host of charities from around the world, Mifalot uses the power of football to educate the next generation.
It offers a civil service program for those who are not able — or allowed — to enter the Israeli Army at the age of 18, instead giving them the opportunity to earn a qualification as a sports coach and secure employment.
Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, Druze all take part, while there is a program dedicated to those members with special needs.
The scheme has won great acclaim and has given hope to those who grew up when the idea of such a scheme would have seemed like a far-fetched dream.
Time for change
“I think the younger generation wants to make a change,” Lee-Weiss said.
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“From a very young age, they have an open mind and they don’t have any inhibitions. Sometimes, they are coming from a background where they need this scheme.
“We just capture the power of football and the love that children and adults have for the sport, and we are trying to educate them and give them values. They are very curious about knowing each other. We are neighbors, Arabs and Jews. The kids are curious because they hear a lot of things but they haven’t always met an Arab or a Jew and seen things with their own eyes.
“They might not have spoken to people outside of their circle but when they get to know each other, they just speak in a non-formal way without any thoughts which we see elsewhere in society.”
Another example of integration is Israel’s national Under-21 team. While it failed to progress from the group stage of the international tournament — the final of which was to be contested by Spain and Italy on Tuesday — its impact off the field should not be underestimated.
A squad including five Israeli-Arab players, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin brought attention to how, in even the most volatile regions, sport can break through barriers.
Several Arab players have represented Israel in the past, with the likes of Rifaat Turk, Walid Badir, Zahi Armeli and — perhaps most famously due to his goal in a 2006 World Cup qualifier — Abbas Suan having all worn the blue shirt.
While Arab players do not sing the Israeli national anthem, essentially an ode to the Jewish homeland, they also refrain from speaking in their native tongue during training to avoid dividing the group.
Great honor
Israel’s hosting of the U21 tournament has been mired in controversy, with protests against the country’s treatment of Palestinians.
But while the politics are debated off the pitch and around the world, the players appear happy with the progress being made.
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“It’s a great honor for me to represent Israel,” Munas Dabbur, an Israeli Arab striker who plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv, told CNN.
“I always felt that I was proud to be invited to the team and I want it to continue.
“I think this tournament can be really important for football in Israel. It’s the first time we’ve had games like this in the country and there’s been a huge push. I hope that this will continue in the future.”
It is a sentiment echoed by his Jewish teammates.
Omri Altman, 19, plays his football in England with Premier League club Fulham and says the pictures he sees on television bear little resemblance to the country he calls “home.”
“My friends at Fulham think, ‘ Israel, oh, it’s very scary.’ They don’t want to come here to visit because they hear in the news about the things which happen here,” Altman said.
“But it’s different. You come here, it’s very quiet in most of the areas. So when teams come to play here, I hope the whole world will see that.
“I think it’s very important that the tournament has come to Israel.
“In our team, we’re all friends and everybody is the same. We are all people, it doesn’t matter where we come from and who we are. We come to play football and that’s the most important thing.”
Next generation
These words would have been noted by the next generation of talent, young hopefuls who have been watching an international football tournament in their own backyard for the very first time.
While Altman and Dabur were busy on the pitch, hundreds of young children were given free tickets to watch the games.
Some of those were from Mifalot. They hope that the example set by their nation’s young footballers can spread a message beyond the country’s borders.
While the U21 players were busy playing in modern stadiums, hundreds of others were running around fields, concrete courts and dirt tracks pretending to be an international footballer.
“I think that this project is great,” said Nasser, a Palestinian coordinator in Sussiya, in the West Bank.
“The activities and interaction greatly helped the kids get to know others who are different and to play together as one group.
“I hear the kids talking and they really enjoyed themselves.”
Another group bringing communities together is the New Israel Fund (NIF), which works alongside the Israeli Football Association (IFA).
Founded in 2003, the NIF’s Kick Racism and Violence out of Soccer scheme has flourished, with the charity supporting civil society organizations working towards social justice, women’s rights and environmentalism.
Back in 2007, a survey it carried out concluded that 60% of Israelis believed more needed to be done to tackle racism in football, while 37% said they would attend more games if the situation improved.
Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”
The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.
All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.
The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.
Carlos Alberto, captain of the 1970 team, lifts the Jules Rimet trophy which Brazil was allowed to keep after becoming the first nation to win the World Cup three times. The former fullback thinks next year’s World Cup will come too soon for Brazil’s inexperienced team.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.
England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.
Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.
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Brazil’s most painful moment
Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.
The spark for a raft of racism reforms from the game’s power brokers came when AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off in a match with Italian lower league side Pro Patria in January after their fans abused him with monkey noises. The game was abandoned and his protest made headline news the world over.
CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”
Boateng’s AC Milan teammate Mario Balotelli has been the subject of racial abuse over a number of years. He and Boateng were abused by AS Roma fans during a match at the San Siro in May that was briefly suspended by the officials as a result. A public address announcement implored visiting supporters to stop their chants.
Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.
Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”
Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.
The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”
Blatter’s new-found vigor to tackle racism was at odds with his sentiments in a 2011 interview with CNN when he expressed his belief that there was no on-field racism in football and that players who think they have been abused should simply say “this is a game.” He later said his comments had been misinterpreted.
One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.
Former England captain John Terry was found not guilty in a criminal court of racially abusing rival footballer Anton Ferdinand but was banned for four-matches by the Football Association. He accepted the charge, a £220,000 fine and apologized, saying: “I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life.”
The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.
Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.
European football’s governing body, UEFA also passed new laws on racism. They introduced a minimum 10-match ban for racist abuse by players or officials and escalating measures for clubs including fines and stadium closures for repeat offenders.
Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.
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Racism in football
Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.
Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.
Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”
The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.
Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.
Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village.
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Remembering the Holocaust: Germany in Israel
Through the work of the NIF, the IFA began to punish clubs with fines for racist abuse.
Breakthrough
Suan was a founding member of the Kick Racism and Violence out of Football organization, and he says sport can be the vehicle which unites people in one of the world’s most troubled regions.
As one of the few Arab players to wear the Israeli soccer shirt at the time, Suan says he suffered abuse every time he touched the ball until a groundbreaking moment.
In the final minute of a qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup, Suan unleashed an astonishing effort which clinched a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland, and etched his name into Israeli folklore.
That goal on March 27, 2005, represented a fundamental change for Suan. He says it was a day Israeli society finally began to realize the significance of Arab players.
“I am a Palestinian because I have a lot of brothers and cousins in the Arab countries,” he said. “And I am Israeli because I live here and don’t go out of my lands.
“I never felt discriminated against in anything that had to do with football. I didn’t let anyone do it to me. Everywhere I went, I felt not merely at home, but like the boss.
“I have a lot of Jewish friends and they are like brothers to me. But I do feel discriminated against when it comes to infrastructure and development in the Arab sector.
“But when my children have a sports lesson in a courtyard without a pitch, that’s discrimination. It makes my blood boil. It’s unacceptable that in a city like Sakhnin, there is not one tennis or basketball court worthy of the name.”
Suan’s case has been featured in two documentaries — “After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United” and “Divided Nation” — both of which focus on Arab citizens in Israel.
Now head of youth at Bnei Sakhnin, one of Israel’s top Arab football clubs, he lectures against racism and violence in the game, drawing on the experiences of his difficult road to the top.
“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he added.
“I pursued my career to represent the community and to bring the two peoples closer together. I paid a great personal price, but I’m satisfied.”
The scheme has also embraced the Bedouin community, where the likes of Israel international Mohammad Ghadir and under-21 player Ahad Azzam learned their trade.
But in a society where female participation is frowned upon, there is one woman who refuses to be denied.
Female Maradona
Meet Miriam Abu-Ghanem — the one they call the “female Maradona” in her town of Tel Sheva in southern Israel.
“I came out of my mother’s stomach with a ball at my feet,” she said.
“Our girls don’t play sport because they think it’s shameful. We suffer from this. I come from a supportive home, without violence or repression, but many other women suffer at home.
“There are still families where the women don’t go out to learn at all, or who suffer in marriage.”
After establishing the first women’s football league in her town and becoming the first Bedouin player in the Be’er Sheva women’s league, injury prevented her from going further.
Instead, two bachelors degrees in physical education and special education, as well as a masters in educational management, have allowed her to become the first PE teacher in the Bedouin community.
“A woman doesn’t need to request equality from anyone and doesn’t need to receive the rights of a man, but the universal rights of human beings as human beings,” she added.
“I always believed in my own capabilities … I worked very hard. I refused to stand to the side and be the forlorn girl. Now here I am.”
It is stories such as these from Suan and Abu-Ghanem which gives hope that sport can unite people — even in the most troubled of times.
Back in Tel Aviv, sitting in her office surrounded by application forms from prospective members, Yael Lee-Weiss, the international development officer, sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.
“It gives me hope,” she said. “They are the future and I know we won’t make the biggest changes to our world and bring about peace in one day, but we do give those children a way out and something good to look for.
“The changes will take a few years but those children are growing up.”
Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/sport/football/football-israel-palestine-peace/index.html?eref=edition
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