Zero Tolerance To Israel!

After a long exhausting day of shopping, cleaning, cooking and some more cleaning (man I sound like a nag!), I put my feet up with a cuppa. The lil' brother was intently gazing at the TV screen and I dared ask who was playing tonight. 'England'. He then kinda stuttered 'VS Israel - IN Israel.'

So it was that match on tonight, I had forgotten all about it amidst my busy yet
uneventful day. I can't quite explain the feeling I had watching the interviews of some of the England players with the beautiful scenic view of a beach in Israel. Images of the Gaza strip, Palestine flashed by; the blood, the bullets, bulldozers destroying homes of the defenceless, children attempting to defend their homes by throwing stones at shooting tanks .

My blood was boling - another example of injustice directed towards the Palestinian people. A people who have been occupied, persecuted, humiliated, and terrorised for over 50 years.

The occupation of Palestinian land by Israel is illegal. Apartheid Israel should never have been allowed to be included in Euro 2008, especially seeing that Palestinian footballers are not allowed excluded from international football.

Whatever happened to 'kicking racism out of football' ! Guess it's just a fancy slogan
to allude the public as this is evident contradiction...Israel operates an entrenched system of racial Apartheid against its own non-Jewish occupants and has been illegally occupying Palestinian land.

The sporting boycott was an integral tool in the movement against South African Apartheid...Although protests were planned for this match; they didn't have much impact unfortunately...

Now I've not seen many Muslims or pro-Palestinian activists in large numbers protest against this (and by this I mean the average, pacified, Muslim) 'cos a big up to those that have been inundating the appropriate body's via emails and calls! It's definitely worth a shot to still voice your disgrace:

* Write to the Football Association to complain about Israel's inclusion in Euro 2008 and England's qualifier match with Israel in Tel Aviv on the 23rd March: Football Association, 25 Soho Square, London W1D 4FA.

* Complain to the FA at info@thefa.com or call them on 02077454999. You could copy in UEFA at info@euro2008.com

* Please also write to Kick Racism out of Football about the inclusion of Apartheid Israel in Euro 2008 while Palestinian footballers are excluded from international football. Email them at www.kickitout.org or email their chairman Lord Herman Ouseley at hermanouseley@aol.com

And I will leave you with this beautiful, heart aching poem I found from this superb website: (Be warned - tissues may be needed)

A tale too familiar to talk about,
A tale too hard to explain:
A family of six sitting down for dinner,
They barged in and quartered my home,
They took away my future;
My two sisters were held at gunpoint and stripped of their dignity.
A family of four,
My father left.
He had to join the freedom fighters.
A family of three.

So now,
Since the soldiers crashed my house,
We cook for five.
So now,
We do their laundry,
And for all I know,
This could be the same soldier who killed Ali.
Ali was my older brother,
He was only 15 years old.
Shot, dead, point blank range.
We were only playing catch,“Oh, I didn’t have my safety on” as he smiled.

They call it the Holy Land, but it is blood filled.
They call it their homeland,
They say it was meant to be theirs.
They say it was their right.
Olive trees uprooted and houses quarted.
Palestine shall find its days of freedom and peace.

They own our damn media,
America receives the crooked story,
How about I walk into a village and open fire upon a bunch of long side-burned punks,
Would they hear it in America then?
Of course Americans would.
Is that what it takes to be put on the media?!

Israeli soldiers,
I want to destroy them,
For what they did to my familiy,
For what they did to Ali,
For what they did to my land.

The Jewish media,
I want to see it fall,
For what they are doing to the American people,
For not saying what is really happening,
For not showing Americans what is true,
For Palestine,
For me,
But better yet,
for freedom,
Please end the oppression.

But yet,
I am too young.
Too young to understand what really goes on.
All I know is that when I was seven,
They destroyed my familiy,
All I know is that when I was seven,
They occupied my house and oppression took over my land.
All I know is that when I was seven,
My brother was murdered,
All I know is that when I was seven,
My father left us and told me to be strong,
All I know is that when I was seven,
I saw my sisters being taken away from me,
Disrespected and unfaithfully touched,
All I know is that when I was seven,
They ruined my life,
And that is when my life flashed before my eyes,
And said to me,“You are a special child;
Spread what you know,
Because you are a living example ofPalestine’s struggle.”
May God help us all,
Amen.