Issam
Khalidi
A major national symbol for Palestine in the
’20s was wrestler Abdel-Rahman al-Jizawi, who left the country for Chili when
he was 20 years old. Upon his arrival, he met a leader of the Arab community,
who introduced him to Chilean media and coaches. Abel Rahman al-Jizawi, who was
famous for wrestling in the Republic of Chile, where he arrived in September
1926 when he was only twenty years old. As soon as he arrived there, he met
with an official of the Arab community who enthusiastically took the
responsibility to introduce him to [Chilean] officials, sportsmen, newspapers
and magazines. This community has set up a special event where this young man
did very well, which drew the attention of the audience, especially newspaper
reporters.[1]
This
article is based on three letters from the Arab community in the Chile
published in Filastin in the years 1926, 27 and 28.
In November 1926 the Palestinian newspaper Filastin (established in 1911) published
a letter from Gerges Elias Abu Sabah in Chile under the title “A Wrestler from Jaffa Became
Famous in Chile:”
Abdel Rahman Al-Jizawi an Arab young man came
to this country from Jaffa (Palestine), he is twenty years of age, his
profession is wrestling, weightlifting and metal bending. I saw that this young man has an amazing body
strength. So, I decided to present him to the media and sport officials. For
this purpose, we set up a special athletic event to the public, especially the
Arab community. The hall was full of people from Jaffa and the Arab community
from Palestine. The young man demonstrated amazing skills, which drew the
attention of the attendees, especially the reporters. The most remarkable of
these skills was the iron-rails bending with a thicken of 30 mm, they were
folded around his head, arms and neck as if they were thin wires. And the most
amazing is that he lay on his back on a thick board full of nails. A piano was
put on his chest while the national anthem of this country has been played for
10 minutes. This ended with a loud applause. [2]
He also wrestled an Italian wrestler
weighing 95 kilos – 30 kg. heavier than him. He wrestled him on October 3rd
on one of the stages in front of a big audience of the Arab community. After a
heavy fight the Arab defeated the Italian and threw him twice on the ground,
and the judge announced his winning. So, the members of the Arab community ran
to the stage lifted him on the shoulders and chanted “Long live Palestine” ,
“Long live the Arabs”, “Long live Abdul Rahman Al-Jizawi”. Several articles
have been published about him here in the newspapers, describing his
extraordinary strength, especially since he is still a young man. These days he
will meet with several wrestlers. The Arab associations in the capital asked me
to invite him to present himself and his skills to the public. [3]
Filastin
published
another letter from Chile in October 1927:
Dear
Editor of Filastin:
I read a long time ago on the pages of your
newspaper something about the victory of the Arab hero Abdul Rahman Al-Jizawi
in wrestling with the Italian Diogenite in the city of Valparaiso. Let me write
something about his latest wrestling.
On the 16th of May, Abdel Rahman
wrestled a 26-years-old young Russian Jewish engineer named Joseph Talma who
was tall, wide-chested, with big strong arms, weighing 98 kg, so we saw Abdul
Rahman before him a child, though many attendees mocked the Arab wrestler and
considered his wrestling an absurdity. In the first round Abdul Rahman jumped
on his opponent and seized him with a strong grip. He lifted him like a ball
trying to throw him to the ground, but the Russian defended himself and slipped
out of Abdel Rahman’s hands and seized him from his nick which forced Al-Jizawi
to lay down on the ground. His opponent struggled to lift him of the ground,
however, the bell rang at the end of the round which prevented him from
achieving what he was planning to. [4]
After a
minute, in the second round Abdul Rahman was messing with his opponent until
the later lost the hope in winning. In the third round, Abdul Rahman lifted his
opponent and seized him with the move known as the Nelson hold, then he threw
him to the floor, and confirmed his winning.
On July 16th, another wrestler named
Albertorbi, the greatest wrestler in this republic, and maybe in South America,
a man of moderate stature. His appearance reveals to spectators that he is a
real athlete with big experience gained; that he a valuable hero familiar with
the details and secrets of wrestling. His weight is not less than a hundred
kilos. We were afraid that Abdul Rahman will fail encountering him because
Albertorbi had and amazing and scary power.
But God gave
Abdul Rahman the joy of victory despite his small body and wight, which does
not exceed 71 kg. Spectators were stunned during the wrestling and were puzzled
by the strength, speed and fitness of Abdel Rahman, whose adversary was
tormented by fatigue. In the seventh round, after 35 minutes in violent and tremendous
struggle Abdul Rahman managed to win, he over turned him on his back by a
movement known as the Nelson hold.
This is the most important wrestling by Abdel-Rahman
because the mentioned Chilean wrestler is an expert in the art of wrestling. He
is distinguished with an extraordinary strength. We already saw him lifting
Abdel Rahman over his head and turned him around few times intended to make
Abdel Rahman feeling dizzy. But it all went in vain. However, despite his opponent’s
weight Abdel Rahman met him in the next round with a similar move lifting him
as he lifts a toy. In fact, I can’t describe you the joy of the Arab community with
the success of Abdel Rahman and his successive winning.
I am pleased
to inform you that the Palestinian Youth Society, which is composed of young
people is concerned to help its citizens, and interested in assisting them in
order to promote their heroism and bravery. It could not remain silent about
these victories, so in recognition his courage, it presented him with a gold
medal, engraved and embellished with the inscription “Palestinian Youth Society
to the Arab winner Abdul Rahman Al-Jizawi – 1927.”This was the only association
in this republic that helped the champion when he came to this country and set
up a match in the best theaters of the capital. It introduced him to the people
and gave him all the income [of the matches]. I am sure you already published something
about this match.
The news of
this young wrestler was reported permanently in Los Tempos, the daily “Times”
in Santiago, the capital of Chile. It was the official mouthpiece of the government
with more than 120,000 copies a day. In August 1928, Al-Jizawi met with the
Chilean foreign Minister, where the latter congratulated him for his courage
and asked him if all the citizens of his Arab nation were heroes as he was. Al-Jizawi
answered “despite my strength, I am the weakest among my fellow citizens.”[5]
References
[1] Issam
Khalidi, “Body and Ideology: Early Athletics in Palestine: 1900-1948,” Jerusalem
Quarterly 27 (2007): 44-58.
The
Palestinian community in Chile is one of the most active among other
Palestinian communities in the world. Although this community is more than one
hundred years old, it has maintained its national and cultural identity.
Throughout this period, it has maintained its national ties with Palestine and
Palestinians.
[2] Filastin, 23
November 1926.
[3] Filastin, 23
November 1926.
[4] Filastin, 21
October 1927.
[5] Filastin, 9
October 1928.
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