"World Cup Inshallah"... A Palestinian Dream
This sounds like a very interesting film and I would love to watch it if it finds its way into the US. Many of us take these things for granted, being able to play a sport or practice any other hobby, while many people around the world find these small pleasures impossible to attain.World Cup Inshallah, a film following the difficult formation, training and World Cup qualifying attempts of the Palestinian national team, will receive its UK premiere in London on Thursday.
Of all the teams that battled it out on the pitch to qualify for this year's World Cup, the Palestinian national team had its own particular conflict to endure.
Looking unsentimentally at the team's training season, the film reveals an almost comically absurd string of bad luck and mounting obstacles.
Players from Gaza must wait weeks for the Rafah border - then controlled by Israel - to open to join their team-mates in Egypt, and the team is forced to cancel a training camp in Hungary.
With no dedicated pitch, the squad must play their crucial "home" match in a virtually empty stadium in Qatar.
At one point, the tragedies of the conflict spill on to the pitch as the Gaza players reveal that five of their friends were killed that morning in an Israeli air strike. (Full article).
Even something as non-political as a Palestinian sports team, even this small ray of hope or attempt at normalcy, is targeted by Israel.
Kudos to the Palestinian national football team for continuing their struggle despite the challenges and hardships they face.
posted by moi @ 2:20 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Seems quite interesting!
Thanks for the highlight!
Saudi Cleric Nasser bin Sliman Al-Omar: People Who Watch the World Cup Will Have to Answer on Judgment Day
Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Nasser bin Sliman Al-Omar, aired on Al-Majd TV on June 4, 2006:
Nasser bin Sliman Al-Omar: With regard to the World Cup... Let me ask you, brother Muhammad... May Allah protect your daughter and sons, but imagine that you are about to undergo a surgical operation, and they tell you the doctor is late because he is watching the game. How would you feel?
Interviewer: Undoubtedly, very bad.
Nasser bin Sliman Al-Omar: OK, imagine that while paying a condolence call, one of the people gets up and turns on the TV to watch the game, and he begins to clap his hands?
Interviewer: No doubt, this is bad.
Interviewer: Our brothers are being killed in all corners of the world, yet we sit down to watch the World Cup?
[...]
You know how our sons used to admire one of the great players. You know how our sons used to admire him. He came as a guest to a certain Saudi city. He was hosted by one of the soccer clubs. They imitated him in everything, including his earring. Someone asked a young man: "Why are you wearing an earring?" He answered: "Because that player wears one." He said to him: "But he wears it on his left ear," so the young man moved it to his left ear. Do you know what became of this player? He became a drug addict, despite being an international player, and he began to visit the so-called Wailing Wall in Israel. This is the man admired by our sons, I'm sad to say.
[...]
During the last World Cup, while the call for prayer was being aired on TV... the TV that was broadcasting the game announced: "We will now broadcast the call for prayer." The ball was really close to the goal at that moment, and one guy got up and cursed the muazzin.
[...]
I am saying to the fathers, to the mothers, and to the people who watch these games: On Judgment Day, a page in the book will be opened for you, and it will say that you sat and watched the games. Will this make you happy or miserable? Will this make you happy on Judgment Day, when you face Allah, or will you wish you had never watched these games?
o video da entrevista está no link abaixo
Click here to watch muslim cleric condemning world cup addicts
another saudi cleric who knows nothing about Islam.
The film sounds very interesting.
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