The Palestinian national football team is one of the pillars of identity

After the extraordinary organization of Qatar for the World Cup 20

22 in Doha of the Arabs and its launch on the twentieth of November this year, it is necessary to evoke Palestine and its identity, and one of its pillars was its national football team, because it participated in the qualifications for the World Cup in 1934, but was eliminated by Egypt, and the attempts were continued until the catastrophe of 1948, which led to the displacement of the largest percentage of the Palestinian people and the dispersal of their various energies, including sports.

Sports energy

Before the establishment of the Palestinian National Self-Government in the spring of 1994, the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Palestine Liberation Organization managed and supervised the sports movement in the places where the Palestinian people were, and for many years it was led by the late Ahmed Al-Qudwa, known as Hajj Mutlaq.
The Palestinian sports movement was renewed again in the mid-nineties, i.e. after the establishment of the Palestinian National Self-Government in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports was established and its achievements were modest in terms of stadiums and facilities. While the number of clubs in Gaza and the West Bank increased, and several tournaments were held in them, most clubs suffered from financial difficulties.
As for sports federations, they began to achieve success in terms of continental and international recognition, because Palestine was admitted to the International Olympic Committee, and the Palestinian Football Federation headed by Jibril Rajoub was formed, and the national team is constantly developing. , and we hope that he will be present like the other Arab brothers at the 2026 World Cup.
It can be argued that there is a great and promising sporting energy among Palestinians in immigrants, near and far, and they can be recruited and involved in sports teams, as well as in the Palestinian football team, so that the matter does not remain closed. to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Although the Palestinian national team did not participate in the World Cup in Qatar 2022, Palestine was present in the hearts of the participating Arab national teams, as well as in the hearts of the fans who cheered them on.

before the nakba

Palestinian sports life flourished and developed tremendously, until Palestine became among the five Arab countries most interested in sports in 1924; So, forty-eight years after the publication of the first Palestinian newspaper.
This means that Palestine got to know this type of journalism early, compared to other Arab countries, whose interest in sports began with independence after the Second World War.
It also features national sports teams that begin to participate in local, regional and international competitions, or as early as 1922; When the Al-Ahram newspaper decided that sports would become one of their staples, and contracted Ibrahim Allam; To be its sports editor, determining that the limits of sports news should be no more than a quarter of a column a day, and after the Nakba and the establishment of Israel on about 78 percent of the Palestinian homeland, Palestinians from the interior were prevented from establishing their own Palestinian clubs, and some players were forced to join newly formed Israeli clubs. ; Despite this, Palestine remained present at Arab tournaments and regional competitions, and sports activity continued even under Israeli occupation or in parts under the administration of Arab countries, and clubs and associations of Palestinian clubs were formed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
He occasionally received budgets from the Palestine Liberation Organization, which in 1968 established the Supreme Council for Sports and Youth Welfare, which played an important role in preserving Palestinian sporting identity. With the outbreak of the Intifada in 1987, Palestinian clubs and youth centers closed their doors, and many athletes were imprisoned along with others in Israeli prisons, not to mention dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded.

Dispersion and growth

After the Nakba in 1948 and the displacement of (850) thousand Palestinians from their homeland, the social fabric was dispersed, including the athletes.
In Lebanon, for example, but not limited to, Palestinian youth formed popular teams within the camps, calling them after their cities to preserve the relationship with the land and history, and their number reached more than 60 teams in the early fifties, spread across Burj al-Barajneh, Sabra, Shatila, Mar Elias, Tal al-Zaatar, Beirut and al-Dahiya camps. Al-Buss, Al-Rashidiyah, Burj Al-Shamali, Ain Al-Hilweh, Al-Beddawi, Nahr Al-Bared, Mieh, Mieh and Juroud Baalbek.
A large number of Palestinian footballers have played in Lebanon since the sixties, when some of them joined Lebanese clubs; Among them are Ahmed Fustuk, Wafaa Arakji, Jamal Al-Khatib, Samir Nassar, Hussein Qassem, Jamil Abbas, Rami, Ali Asaad Al-Najma, and the list goes on.
After the arrival of about 85 thousand Palestinians after the Nakba in Syria; In Syria, the Palestinian sports case was born as a direct result of the tolerant Syrian society, and hundreds of Palestinian players starred in many sports, to significantly and noticeably contribute to sports activities in Syria, and among them is the Palestinian player George Mardini, who played in the Syrian football team army until 1951; The name of Jabra Al-Zarq, who before 1948 was a player of the Palestinian national team, and after the mentioned year, became a player of the football team of the Syrian Gendarmerie until 1961; Among the important names is Ismail al-Najjar, who was at the Islamic Club in Haifa, and after the Nakba he moved to play midfield in the Syrian national football team until 1961; As for Asdur, who was a goalkeeper at the Arab Club from Haifa; He became an important player in the Syrian army team and traveled to Armenia in the mid-1950s.
Until the beginning of the seventies, the Syrian Army team included a group of Palestinian players, among whom were: Fouad Abu Ghaida, who is from Tire Haifa; Like the late defender Azmy Haddad; Ibrahim al-Maghribi and brothers Ahmed Talib Tamim; and Ismail Tamim, who are from the village of Al-Ja’una in the district of the city of Safed; Other stars also shone in Syrian clubs, such as: Ahmed Najm Amoura from Tire Haifa and was a player for the Syrian club Al-Nahda, as well as Nazih Zawawi from the village of Maathar in Tiberias district and was a player in Syrian clubs. midfield of the police team; The same goes for Youssef Tamim, nicknamed Al-Hassi, who for years was the heart of the attack in the police team until the mid-seventies.
It is important to note that the Palestinian national football team during the seventies and eighties consisted of Palestinian players from Syria and Lebanon, and was sponsored by the Youth and Sports Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Palestinian writer living in the Netherlands