Redux: Kuwait Bans Palestinians from Sports
Jordan Criticized for Revoking Citizenship from Palestinians
Redux: Lebanon Asks U.S. To Remove Ban on Hezbollah T.V. & U.S. Bans Arab Channels
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SWIMMING STRETCHES: Palestinian swimmers, Abdul Rahman, left, and Shahdi el-Masry, performed warm-up stretches before training at the Nama’a Sports Club in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip. Mr. el-Masry’s leg was amputated after an Israeli jeep ran over it when he was 2 years old. The handicapped swimmers hope to travel to Germany in May to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics. Gaza has few adequate training facilities for professional athletes, many of whom have great difficulty leaving the blockaded territory to compete internationally. (Warrick Page/Getty Images)
When the history of Palestine is written, it should be noted that all Arab governments did not do nearly enough in supporting the Palestinians and that several have actually been responsible for crimes against them.
In the latter category, two stands deserve dishonorable mention:
1. Jordan. The Hashamite monarchy was working with the Zionists from the very beginning - even before the establishment of the state of Israel - and the king was selling out Palestinians for literally fistfuls of British pounds. The monarchy has remained as submissive toward Zionism today as it was then. And recently it started to revoke the citizenship of Palestinians living in Jordan.
2. Kuwait ethnically cleanses roughly 250,000 Palestinians from its country because of Yasir ‘Arafat’s foolish decision to back Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti media did not shy away from using that term - and in great cheer - in the press at that time. Once the corrupt royal family was resorted to its throne by the U.S. ‘liberators’ it went about its nefarious deed.
Kuwait now has a new proposition: denying Palestinians participation in sporting events.
The Gulf nation is hosting the Paraolympics and after agreement that the Palestinians would be allowed to participate, Kuwait has banned the Palestinian delegation. Why? The official reason is not clear. But this is certainly political. Since all the athletes were to come from Gaza, Kuwait probably came under pressure from Fatah to now allow Palestinians from Gaza to participate in a petty effort to undermine its rival Hamas. The shame still rests more on Kuwait for going along (whatever the reason).
Who got to participate in Kuwait? Israel.
Redux: Kuwait has since denied the report:
The Director of the International Athletics Championship Shafi Al-Hajiri denied yesterday the reports published in the media on a ban by the Kuwaiti authorities or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the disabled Palestinian national athletics team to participate in the championship. "The whole news is a big lie. Kuwait always welcomes all Arab teams to come and participate. We provide all facilities and we invited the Palestinian team to participate and agreed to issue visas for them," Al-Hajeri told Kuwait Times yesterday, providing all necessary documents from email correspondence with the Palestinian officials.
The problem is not about the permission to enter Kuwait, he said. "The Palestinian team replied to our invitation that they didn't have budget to come and said they needed Kuwait to finance their participation. They also demanded paying for 20 members to participate although most of them are administrative staff and not players," he said."We offered to pay the finances for 12 members and asked them to finish the paperwork and send it in time as there are deadlines for submission. The team ignored our corre
spondence, and then finally sent us their entries long after the deadline," Al-Hajeri said. "The Palestinian disabled team for athletics has had no foreign participations. They haven't participate in any regional or international championships," he said.
The CNN's website Sunday quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the Kuwaiti authorities rejected entry permits for the Palestinian disabled team which was supposed to take part in an international tournament that kicked off in Kuwait on Saturday. The event hosts more than 155 male and female disabled players from 12 Arab and foreign countries. "The decision on not issuing entry permits for members of the Palestinian team came from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the pretext that they hold
Palestinian passports," the Palestinian sources told CNN.
The Palestinian Paralympic Committee expressed sorrow over the banning of the Palestinian team from taking part in the tournament after extensive efforts and preparations and obtaining the required permits for members of the team to exit the Rafah border post in Gaza. "Committee Board members exerted utmost effort to cover the expenses of the team's participation in the tournament, including air tickets," sources said, adding that an international observer at the tournament will compile a report on the inc
ident to the international federation.
The previous criticism circa 1991 still stands of course, and so does the criticism around the banning. The Palestinians are under occupation, does Kuwait think that it is an easy thing for them to send their paperwork? What kind of nonsense is this? Palestinians in Gaza are under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. It isn't the easiest thing to send paperwork and communicate at all let alone on deadlines.
It is inexcusable that Kuwait would not be patient. So this is still Kuwait's fault and still counts as Kuwait banning the Palestinians from the games. Kuwait needed to offer a hand to a besieged people instead of being self-righteous.
God favors the patient.
