Hey ref - that no.10 is a Palestinian

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Thursday August 23, 2007 12:52 by MichaelY - ipsc

by Mark Steel - The Independent

In an interesting article, The Independent covered the latest disgrace by the British Government concerning the banning of and refusing entry to a Palestinian under 19s football team to the UK.

The IPSC contacted UEFA re:this incident and we have received a non-committal reply saying that the Palestinians are not members of UEFA [while Israel is!!] and, anyway, this was a British Government decision and there is nothing they can do about it. All comments welcome. In the meantime we are awaiting breathlessly the Kevin Myers response to all of this.

Our position

The Palestinian youth team, mostly from Gaza, was due to begin a three-week tour, playing against teams such as Blackburn Rovers, Tranmere and Chester.

But on the day they were due to arrive, the British Foreign Office announced none of them would be granted a visa, the reason given that they were “too poor”. Too poor?

Has the Foreign Office replaced immigration officials with doormen from a gentlemen’s club? So instead of asking people at customs to show their passport, they look you up and down, then say, “I’m afraid sir, there is no admission into Britain without a tailored suit.”

The Foreign Office originally backed the tour, saying it would “help to keep young men out of the hands of gunmen”. Still, if only the footballers were rich Arab gunmen, sent by Saudi Arabia,
they’d not only be allowed to play Blackburn, they’d probably buy it.

There will inevitably be suggestions from the Israeli government that the tour was a propaganda exercise for terrorists, despite the places they were due to play at.

But you can imagine an Israeli statement claiming, “We have evidence that Blackburn Rovers is a front for terrorist activity, and we understand the half-time team talk by Mark Hughes goes ‘We need to battle hard in midfield, and we can get the winner if we launch a merciless Holy Jihad against the infidel Arsenal flat-back-four’.And as for Chester, they might as well call themselves Hizbollah Wanderers and be done with it.”

But it might be harder to explain why the tour was also backed by an organisation called Truce International, whose chair is Nancy Dell’Olio, the glamorous partner of Sven. Or Nancy Dell’Al-Zaqari HamasIntifadaOlio as she’s probably known by Mossad. She said, “To refuse admission solely on the grounds they are too poor to be trusted will do Britain no good abroad.”
.....

Or maybe this is all just practise for the English strategy to win the next World Cup. Within a couple of years almost every decent foreign footballer in the world will be playing here in the Premier League, then just before the tournament starts we’ll refuse visas to all of them and give ourselves a chance. But most likely is simply that the Foreign Office has been leaned on by the Israeli government to refuse entry to the team. Because the Israelis do have a record here.

In March last year they bombed the only football stadium in Gaza. And it wouldn’t be surprising if, just for extra nastiness they contracted Multiplex to rebuild it. And during the Asia Cup, which the Palestinian national team had started with an 8-0 win, the Israelis detained the five players who came from Gaza so they couldn’t get to their match against Uzbekistan.

This suggests the latest incident is simply part of the process of petty vindictiveness that occupying forces often dish out. Even if there’s no obvious military or political advantage to be gained, you can imagine them passing a law that no one in Gaza is allowed to hum, or on Mondays everyone has to speak in a Geordie accent.

Even more annoying for the residents of Gaza, for over a year they’ve been under siege, the hospitals have run out of essential medicines, there’s no electricity and hundreds of thousands are trapped there, unable to visit family or complete their education if it means leaving the occupied area. The justification offered often comes down to how Palestinian organisations
refuse to recognise Israel’s right to exist. Yet the Israelis seem so determined to refuse Palestine’s right to exist that they won’t even allow them a football team.

So what will they allow? Would they let them take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, or would they get the Foreign Office to refuse them entry on the grounds they were “too loud”? Would they let a Palestinian puppy enter Crufts, or would it be refused a visa for being “too frisky”? So the
Palestinian footballers are left with two options.

The first is they’re calling on people to send a message to the Foreign Office, at King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH, asking for the decision to be reversed. Or they could organise their next tour to play against Scotland. Then even if they’re not allowed to turn up they’ll still win three-nil.