Killing Hope: Why Israel Targets Sports In Gaza

Targeting Sports In Gaza?
Palestinian boys watch a peer play with a football in front of banners forming part of a protest tent in solidarity with Palestinian prisoner Mahmud Al-Sarsak in Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip on June 10, 2012. Sarsak is a football player from the Gaza Strip and was detained by Israeli troops while traveling to play with Palestinian team in the Israeli occupied West Bank. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/GettyImages)
Palestinian boys watch a peer play with a football in front of banners forming part of a protest tent in solidarity with Palestinian prisoner Mahmud Al-Sarsak in Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip on June 10, 2012. Sarsak is a football player from the Gaza Strip and was detained by Israeli troops while traveling to play with Palestinian team in the Israeli occupied West Bank. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/GettyImages)

Let’s start with a fact. On November 16, the Israeli Air Force bombed the 10,000-seat Palestine Stadium “into ruins.”* The stadium also headquartered the center for youth sports programs throughout the Gaza Strip. This is the second time Israel has flattened the facility. The first was in 2006 and the people of Gaza have spent the last six years rebuilding the fields, stands and offices to keep the national soccer team as well as club sports alive in the region.

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