It was almost 2:30 PM and there is just enough time to either grab a cab or run to the Gaza Sporting Club for the daily Ping Pong training. What a beautiful game, until now, whenever there is a chance, I chase my first and probably favorite sporting exercise; Table Tennis, Ping pong. I did boxing for a while but it was a scandal so I quit in my prime. The trainer is a good person that had his days during the Olympics in Tokyo of 1964 where he and others represented Gaza, which then was under the Egyptians, but represented it I believe under the name Palestine. During Egypt, Palestine consisted of the Gaza Strip, while the West Bank was part of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, under King Hussein, the late father of the current king. Egypt on the other hand was under an Egyptian army officer who threw out the royal family in 1952, established with his comrades a republic and started another royal family but under the pretentious auspices of socialism and nationalism. I arrived there and started the training, it was fantastic, after that, went to the buffet as we used to call it, a small canteen for snacks, and then back home. The Gaza Sporting Club was and I think still the main club in Gaza, its Soccer- Football team- was one of the best in Gaza and the West Bank. Its rival in popularity in the West Bank was the YMCA in Jerusalem, on Nablus Street, few meters away from my elementary school, in the same street, the St. George School. When the two teams used to play, it used to be a fiesta, like Manchester United playing Liverpool in the English football premier league or Maccabi Tel-Aviv playing Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the Israeli premier league. The main stadium for soccer was and again still is, I believe, the Yarmouk stadium on Al-Wehda Street, al Wehda means Union or unity, something the Arabs dreamed of and never figured out what it really means. Abdel Nasser of Egypt since 1952, and until his death in 1970, kept igniting the Arabs emotions with demagoguery slogans that only brought slavery to the soul and the mind of every human being in the Arab Countries, those of course that believed the biggest liar in the history of the Arab countries; at least not since the Turks occupied the Middle East and enslaved the Arabs for hundreds of years. Now some Arabs go running to Turkey asking for some sort of support for something, but in actuality it is not support but self-humiliation. See, the Arabs never believed that they can take care of themselves on their own; always someone else to go to, someone else has to adopt them or speak on their behalf. Everything changed in Gaza in the late 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s when new people started to appear in the streets of Gaza, bearded people, strange faces and sometimes names. First they started a sport club by the name of The Islamic Association, and then the Islamic compound. They attracted big names players to play with them, had Ping-Pong team, that competed with ours, the Gaza Sporting Club. I remember with school friends visiting their location, it was very simple, the head of that association, the sporting association, was on a wheel chair, by the name of Ahmad Yassin, the person that established Hamas, the organization, that took over Gaza Strip few years later, kicked and humiliated the PLO and threw them out of Gaza. Very interesting was that organization, on occasions, it beat the Gaza Sporting Club in soccer, but then it evolved to charity, and social help, and it started to gain a mysterious reputation in Gaza. But not only that, the beaches changed in Gaza, bearded men started to walk the beaches, looking and inspecting girls and women in bathing suits enjoying the Mediterranean beach, with the soft clear silky sand, not developed though, it was nothing to compare with the beaches next door in the State of Israel, but for Gaza and under the circumstances and with no political solution, it was the best it can be probably, maybe it could have been better, who knows. The Israelis- who took over Gaza after defeating Abdel Nasser in 1967, I do not think, had any issues, if the people of Gaza wanted to develop the beach area, but there were restrictions, Gaza at the time was under the military rule of the Israelis. The restrictions were related completely to security concerns. Still the restaurants there and the fish market were phenomenal, Visitors from Israel and the West Bank used to come all the way to enjoy a nice meal of fish, roam the markets, and play around with Gaza Stock market, downtown, dealers, illegally trading foreign currency, mainly the Jordanian Dinar, and the US dollar. In that same period, 1977-1982, the Gaza local branch of the YMCS opened its doors for business, and attracted the Gazans from all walks, had the usual ping pong tables, the Canteen, a playground and a basketball field. It was not as fancy and glamorous as the Jerusalem YMCA but it did the job for Gaza, it also brought the main two populations of Gaza, the Christians and the Muslims closer. The population in Gaza had never had issues with religion except for the usual prejudices that could be found more or less in any society in regard to majority and minority residents, but I do not recall any issues, fights or any of such. They, the Christians, were successful, mainly in the fields of selling and manufacturing Gold and among them were successful doctors, engineers, teachers- I still recall a sweet and talented English teacher and her family, city administrators; just regular productive population of their city. In that same period, 1977-1982, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the State of Israel was and is probably until now, the premier sporting club and organization in Israel. It captured our- many of the youth in Gaza and others in the West Bank- imagination with is performance in soccer, but mostly with its Basketball team that competed in Europe and was champion for multiple years, as the top basketball team in Europe. I have always questioned, then, why Israel competes in Europe, Israel is a Middle Eastern, Asian country, why not competing within its geographic sphere, of course, that was an ideal analysis, true though geographically, but not politically. The Arabs and the State of Israel were in a state of war since 1948 when the Arabs rejected the UN resolution 181 to divide the historic pre 1948 Palestine among both the Israelis and the Arabs. Israel accepted the resolution, and built a world class country, the Arabs, until now, are trying to figure out what happened, do not know how and why, or pretend to not know. The Arabs are more interested in songs- watch the Jordanian TV right before the 8:00 PM Evening news to see what I'm talking about- patriotic songs showing the king riding horses and tanks and planes, same in Egypt before the afternoon 2:30 PM News, showing the president as someone with unbelievable, above human abilities and strength. Of course not to mention the usual whining and crying, and complaining and playing politics-not in a smart way, but in conspiracy theories style and of course in believing populist demagogues like Abdel Nasser who sold them the Sun in bottles- as our friends in Egypt would say. Egypt later on under one of the 1952 officers, Anwar El-Sadat, broke away, internationally, not internally, not inside Egypt, and took the initiative and with the State of Israel Menahim Begin changed history- the history of the Muslim, Arabs and the Israelis, in making or starting a peace process that is going on until now and will continue to go on until a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is established; regardless if the Palestinians like it or not, and regardless if the Palestinians continue to act like mentally retarded and fire rockets across the border into Israeli territories, and regardless of the naked beards that govern Gaza now, and regardless of the beards that will govern, democratically, the Arab countries under the flag of the Muslim Brotherhood. See, the politics in the Middle East is not local, it is an international process, it could have been local, and maybe it can be local, or the locals can still have influence, but it is not completely local and it will never be completely local. To be fair, politics in general now and ever since the end of the Second World War, has become very interactive, very collaborative among nations, especially super powers to ensure that criminals like the Nazis of Germany do not surface again.
Today, Sunday, March 11, 2012…….Gaza, the West Bank and The State of Israel
The Israelis couple of days ago fired a rocket that killed what Israel described as a terrorist; he, the assassinated, belonged to an organization called Jihad or something, I think they called it the Front for something, on record as he said, was actively trying to launch rockets and commit terrorist operations within the borders of Israel and already did operations and I believe was involved, based on news, in the abduction of Israeli soldiers. So based on record he was a terrorist or to his people- not the Palestinian people, a freedom fighter, but if you were an Israeli, then you would take action against those that harm your country and people. As a response to that operation in Gaza, Hamas started the usual rocket firing across borders into towns and cities in the State of Israel. Israel responded back, and started to bomb Hamas, not Gaza. Gaza as a city has nothing to do with Hamas, and its political games- Hamas claim of virtues is the claim of a virtuous prostitute- I cannot come up with a better and more precise description to describe it. But it is like the remaining Arab tyrants, not better, and not worse, just different style. Gaza throughout history has been a passive witness to those that took over her across the decades, nothing more. *The families of the Gaza strip; the traditional well known families, have never really had any stand to represent Gaza, they have always been tools for others, which is fine, they are merchants, historically, so now Hamas and before that the PLO represented Gaza through people who are not necessarily part of Gaza or even the West Bank; it happens, nothing so abnormal about it. But it is strange when you think it over, the original population of Gaza never had a say, never won an election, never in fact was credible within and among its own population; weird. The majority of the population now are those Palestinians that came over from lands in the State of Israel- **the Historic pre 1948 Palestine- and the West Bank, and were treated by their brethren, the Arabs in general, and their governments, with the worst kind of treatment, and they, the Palestinian refugees looked around and found an original population in Gaza and the West Bank, and Jordan, and Syria and Lebanon that are full of hatred toward them or at least indifferent, and manipulated them to gain political ground and leverage; that is the story of the Palestinians in a nutshell; people who have been manipulated by their own, no one else. Again, Israel has nothing to do with the plight of the Palestinian people; the Palestinians themselves are the ones responsible and now they have a choice, more than any other time in their history, to change things around, to revolt against ***Hamas and the PLO, throw them out, go to the streets and demand change like those in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Tunisia, and Syria; it is the only way. Of course again, the other way is to wait for the international community to establish the Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, but again, then, no guarantees that the criminals that govern the Palestinians now do not stop governing them. As for the State of Israel; it is flourishing every day, and succeeding every day, and establishing itself as a regional, credible power, every day; look at the smart Iron dome that is protecting the population of the State of Israel from the rockets launchers in Gaza. Hamas is giving The State of Israel the best opportunity to show the Israeli people how their country and elected government take care of them, how their country, the State of Israel, through perseverance, knowledge, skill, and determination, is creating a fantastic way to protect its population from rockets; I have no doubt about it that other countries will learn this method; it is the way of the future, how to protect your people and take care of every Israeli anywhere within the State of Israel. And Hamas, what is Hamas doing, I tell you, it is killing the Palestinians every day, it is humiliating them, it is delaying the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, it is butchering the Palestinian dream to live in dignity and peace. Unfortunately, it is a game that Hamas is playing with families and population within the West Bank and Gaza. The choice is clear, and the comparison is so obvious between the Israelis and the Palestinians now. A government in Israel that protects its people and a government in Gaza that kills its people.
· For writing integrity purposes, my family, The Shawwa or Shawa- as some write it- is one of the families of the Gaza Strip from Gaza.
** http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2011/03/west-bank-and-gaza-striprisepart-iii-no.html The West Bank and The Gaza Strip…Rise….Part III- No historical or Religious Claims- Ongoing by Jamil Shawwa
*** http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2012/02/second-reconciliation-hamas-and-west.html “The Second Reconciliation; Hamas and The West Bank Takeover, by Jamil Shawwa”
