"When I see Israeli athletes participating in sports events I feel anger and injustice. In Israel there is not only a war but a genocide underway and no one can stop it: however they can participate in events without any difficulty, as if it were a normal country. Furthermore, sometimes during matches I see that " a minute of silence is observed "for the Israeli victims but in Gaza there are 50,000 dead. It is clear that we Palestinians count for nothing". This was said by the first Palestinian female soccer player in Italy, Natali Shaheen, speaking via video link at the conference in Florence "Sport as a tool for peace".
HERE IS THE STORY OF NATALI: FROM PALESTINE TO THE ISLAND
www.unionesarda.it/3-minuti-con/dalla-palestina-alla-sardegna-la-bomber-natali-shaheen-alla-real-sun-service-c2if1je4Shaheen now lives in Sardinia, in Sassari, and plays for the Real Sun Service team from Sassari, which plays in Eccellenza. "I hope that one day wars will end, that we can live in peace, without divisions," he added.
Shaheen recalled the difficulties of playing football in Palestine, where even players and coaches, like the coach of the Olimpica Hani al Masdar, died under the bombings: "Moving between cities is difficult, because of the checkpoints that were put in place by Israel", she explained, "I was born in Jericho but I played in Ramallah: on the way between home and the sports field there are two checkpoints, which the Israelis close whenever they want. For this reason, to get to training I left my house four hours early: despite this, many times I was unable to get to training on time, while other times I had to sleep at my teammates' houses because the road had been closed in the meantime".
(Online Union)
