Ghaza organizes its own World Cup
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ennahar
Ghaza - Passionate of football but off the world, the Ghaza strip organizes its own "World Cup", an initiative that is very popular even if it is symbolic, to demand the lifting of the Israeli blockade imposed on the small Palestinian territory.
- "You want to go to South Africa but the borders are closed? The World Cup, it's happening now in Ghaza, announced last few days of big billboards.
- With humor, they call Ghazzawi to attend this event by proxy, the first of its kind in the narrow enclave controlled by the Islamist movement of Hamas in three years.
- Sixteen local teams participated since May 2 in this "Ghaza World Cup 2010, organized by the Palestinian Federation of Football in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on an idea by Patrick McGrann, an American working in Ghaza.
- Thirteen clubs are each country participating in the real World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 11 in South Africa. The other three play the role of Jordan, Egypt and Palestine, not qualified for the World Cup.
- On Saturday, thousands of people are expected at the final which opposes France to Ghaza at 5:00 pm local time (2:00 GMT) at the stadium of Yarmouk in Ghaza. The two teams are respectively represented by teams of Rafah and Khan Younis.
- "We dream that the world understands that we are a nation that loves freedom, and that starts by lifting the unjust blockade," said Ashraf Hamad, responsible for fabricating a trophy for the competition.
- Ghaza lives since summer 2006 under an Israeli embargo, strengthened in June 2007. Egypt, which shares a 14 km border with the territory, maintains almost permanently closed the Rafah crossing, the only crossing point that is not controlled by Israel since the Hamas takeover.
- "Let the world pay attention to Ghazzawi's Blockade, that's enough. They love football, they deserve to be supported and assisted to live in dignity," pleads Mohieddine Ayman, an American of Egyptian origin.
- This journalist from Al-Jazeera International is involved in the initiative, as many representatives of international NGOs and media.
- This week, hundreds of Palestinians attended with enthusiasm the game between the "United States" (the Maghazi refugee camp) and "Serbia" (the team of Zaitoun) at Palestine stadium in Ghaza.
- "USA! USA!" Chanted dozens of fans waving the Stars and Stripes, a rather singular image in Ghaza.
- "I had the feeling of attending a real match between the U.S. and Serbia," says Hicham Reda, 26, resident of Maghazi, an American flag in hand.
- "I have no problem with this flag," he explains. Yes, I participated in demonstrations during which American and Israeli flags were burned, but that's different, because football is played between peoples, not between governments."
- Modeled on the trophy awarded to the champion of the world Cup on July 11, that of "Ghaza World Cup" is made of scraps of metal found in buildings destroyed by Israeli forces during the offensive in the winter of 2008 - 2009, topped by a cement ball.
- The cup will be delivered Saturday, the day when Palestinians commemorate the "Nakba" (catastrophe in Arabic) has represented them for the depopulation as a consequence of the violence that accompanied the creation of Israel on May 15, 1948, and the first Arab-Israeli war that followed.
- Ennaharonline/ M. O.
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