Issam Khalidi
As it was mentioned to me by the martyr Shireen Abu Akleh during the interview that she conducted with me, according to the information she had been provided with, Arab Palestinian footballers participated in qualifying matches for the 1934 and 1938 World Cup in Palestine. However, all documents indicate that there was not a single Arab player who took part in these qualifiers. In my opinion, the information I have obtained from the FIFA archive and the online link Israel - List of Champions (rsssf.org) is sufficient proof that this is true.
The fact that the Zionists did not intend in
general to cooperate with the Arabs also proves that this was the case. It was
evident from the behavior of the Palestinian Football Association, which was
dominated by the Zionists, that the Arabs were treated with condescension.
Until 1948,
Palestine played five international games under the name of British Mandate
Palestine. The Israel FA and Palestinian FA recognize these games as their five
international games. However, the national anthem that was played before the
games was the Jewish one – Hatikva (later national anthem of Israel). In
addition, all the players in these games were Jewish, so this decision of the
Palestinian FA looks little strange. [1]
As a blogger, I
have tried to make it clear what happened in the 1934 and 1938 World Cup
qualifiers and the malicious methods that the Zionists used to dominate the
sports movement and their refusal to cooperate with the Arabs honestly that I
have described on this blog.
Many insist that we should not
dwell on these facts, but rather reminisce about how Palestine was able to
participate in the World Cup qualifiers (1934 and 1938), which is an honor for
Palestinians. However, I believe that Palestinian historians are responsible
not only for preserving history, but also for not accepting any distorted facts
or ideas that may be in conflict with it in the first place. It is the mission
of historians to study and interpret the past and refute facts that contradict
the truth based on their interpretation and study.
In a recent
interview with the president of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril
Rjoub, I had the opportunity to discuss this matter as well as other historical
aspects of Palestinian sports, such as the withdrawal of Arabs from the Zionist-dominated
Palestine Football Association which was formed in 1928, and then its
membership in FIFA that followed. As well as the establishment of the (Arab)
Palestine Sports Federation in 1931; and the re-establishment of the PSF in
1944, and so on.
In my opinion
there are two trends in the way historical facts are presented about
Palestinian sports, particularly during the Mandate period, when it comes to
presenting historical facts. It is the first trend to use research methods to
examine this history, the most important of which is the analysis of historical
documents, records, and data such as from archives, documents, and newspapers in
order to determine patterns, causes, and effects, and then to interpret these
findings based on these findings. In terms of the second trend, it is presented
in a superficial manner and is based on information sourced from unreliable
sources.
The enthusiasm Abu
Akleh had for researching and analyzing historical facts about Palestinian
sports was one of the things I found most impressive about her as a person.
There was a desire on her part to highlight the true face of Palestinian sports
during the time of the British Mandate. It was
for this reason that she made a documentary entitled “Palestinian Sports and
the Struggle for Identity,” which is considered to be her last documentary.
In
addition to her interview with me, she later asked me for more documents that
would help to confirm the ideas I had put forward about the dominance of the
Palestinian Football Association and its attempts to marginalize Arabs from the
sports arena, as well as other important facts and information related to
Palestinian sports over the past century.
There was also a close relationship formed
between Abu Akleh and academic researcher Nadia Jasser-Najjab, a senior lecturer at the
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in Britain
who had also developed an interest in the subject of sports and Palestinian
identity. She published a co-authored
article as a personal and political commemoration of her dear friend and much
dear friend Shireen Abu Akleh. The article intended to fulfill her personal
wish to publish an academic article that related to her journalistic work.[2] In
addition, this confirms Abu Akleh's desire to support journalistic work on
Palestine's history by providing historical facts based on scientific evidence.
This affirms her desire to support academic work in this area.
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