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By Marwan Bishara
Twenty years ago, the General Council of the Parisian suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis asked me to invite four young Palestinians to participate in the World Cup. France and organize their visit
At the time, football was the last thing I thought about. I was finishing my doctorate in France, doing my research on Israel / Palestine and, in the meantime, I was actively participating in human rights campaigns.
But it was not just football and the World Cup. It was also an act of solidarity and fraternity that the French progressives wanted to undertake.
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mission, only to realize that it would turn into an experience of 39, a life for me and for the lucky four who made Palestine in Paris.
In order to choose the four young Palestinians, I ran a lottery in a weekly newspaper called, Fasl Al Maqal, published in Nazareth but distributed throughout Palestine. I ended up with four lucky winners from Galilee, the West Bank and Gaza.
The French Consulate in Jerusalem was just as excited as we were and issued visas quickly enough to enter France. It was the easy part. Leaving Palestine under Israeli control was another matter.
At each checkpoint we had to cross, we were stopped and interrogated. At Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, it was even worse
More Harbadment
Once the security guards heard where we were going and what we were going to do, their jealousy has turned into questioning and harbadment. 19659003] The winner of Gaza was not allowed to enter the flight. The poor man had to turn around, go to Rafah, cross to Egypt and fly to Paris from Cairo. He ends up doing it, but with a little delay.
Once in France, we were housed in a youth center in a western suburb of Paris with young people from France and elsewhere. While my Palestinian companions were circling the ball with their French comrades, their only common language was football and that was all they needed to communicate.
When we arrived at the Stade de France, in Seine-Saint-Denis, the semi-finals between France and Croatia, to our surprise, we discovered that we were all five VIP guests in the special following advice.
It is difficult to describe the scene of four young men who had never been outside their camp, city or homeland discovering Parisian elegance.
Imagine, young Palestinians in jeans and sneakers and with a great pbadion for football in the VIP lounge of the Stade de France and mingling with French elites and international celebrities.
Imagine them walking in the living room, in front of beautiful hostesses, and on the open balcony overlooking the field where 22 football superstars were celebrating under the cheers of 80,000 fans.
No. 1 French Cuisine
And that was not all, for me at least: the menu featured the best of French cuisine and wines. While the guys were applauding, I ate.
When the match started, one of the Palestinians whispered in my ear: "Is not this a perfect place to plant a Palestinian flag?" And that was the case. One of them had brought a small flag just in case we put it in place.
Our French hosts were generous and kind to the Palestinian boys. And the most excited and the most pbadionate of them was a progressive French Jew. He was also the funniest. This added yet another twist to our trip, because until then some of my fellow travelers had never met a Jew who was neither a soldier nor a settler.
And they were there – on an exciting journey, watching a World Cup match, in an amazing city, in a spectacular stadium, with wonderful people.
Oh, and what a match it was! France beat Croatia 2-1 in 90 exciting minutes!
It was also our victory. It was heaven on earth. There was no fear, no hate, just happiness.
And it went on Three days later, on July 11, we went to the third place of the Parc des Princes stadium where Croatia beat the Netherlands.
Back to reality
After this match, the reality came back to the Four Palestinians as we started to prepare for the start. One or two began to wonder why they had to leave, or more exactly, how they could return, how they could live a normal life after all that they had seen.
But that was not going to be the end of the wonderful journey. I had a surprise for them: we were going to the World Cup final! We were going to see France and Brazil play. They just could not believe it
July 12 was an unforgettable day. The match was exciting. Zinedine Zidan scored twice, France won 3-0. But it seemed that the most beautiful victory of that day belonged to my young Palestinian companions. They saw everything and they were going to tell and tell this story for decades to come.
After the match, we went to the Champs Elysees to celebrate with thousands of French fans until the early hours of the morning. One of us even received a French kiss.
When we are in Paris, we kiss and we tell. And what happens at the World Cup does not stay at the World Cup.
There was now an urgent need to go home and tell the story of a dream.
I think of these young men and those glorious days every four years when the World Cup starts. And I bet these four Palestinians, who are now middle-aged men, will take root for The Blues today, just as I will.
Dr. Marwan Bishara is the senior political badyst at Al Jazeera. This article is republished with the permission of the author.
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