Top News Qatar World Cup 2022 : Palestinian Flags Everywhere In Qatar

The Main Political Theme Of The 2022 World Cup. Why Are Palestinian Flags Everywhere In Qatar?

 

The tournament has become a huge platform for expressing positions.

In the 67th minute of the match between France and Tunisia, a fan ran out onto the field: he was quickly tied up and taken away, but the cameras of photographers managed to grab the moment of the breakthrough and the man himself. It was a Tunisian with a Palestinian flag – a young man who ran in support of the country, and also in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have defended their position for freedom for many years.

The youth was later honored by the Palestinian ambassador to Tunisia “for his role in supporting Palestinian rights during a global event and in front of millions of viewers around the world.”

However, this was far from the only flag of Palestine for the entire tournament. This World Cup has become a huge platform for demonstrating the position of the Arab world on the Palestinian issue. And, I must admit, it turned out quite large-scale.

 

Support for the Arab world

 

Palestine is everywhere in Qatar – flags are flown at every match, and fans wear small satin scarves and Free Palestine wristbands, which are sold on the market among other fan paraphernalia. Moroccans, Tunisians, Qataris, Saudis, and even some Europeans joined the large-scale action to fight for Palestine right here at the World Cup. This became a kind of leitmotif of this tournament: if some political actions (like the struggle for the rights of LGBTQ+ and migrants) were extinguished, then the Palestinian story went on from match to match.

And this fact should not be surprising: the Arab people reject the normalization of relations and consider the Zionists as enemies, and Israel as an occupier, despite the attempts of officials to resolve this issue at the state level.

 

History from Morocco

 

Moroccans are particularly supportive of Palestine. After the victory over Belgium, which is on the side of Israel in this matter, they sang: “Our beloved Palestine, precious country, resist! May God protect you from the injustice of enemies and Zionists. We will not leave you, Gaza, although you are far away.” That was not all – in the stands, it also sounded “With the Spirit and blood we will redeem you, O Palestine.” After the victory over Portugal, the Moroccan team in the team photo stretched the Palestinian flag, and the fans regularly throw it over the national jersey.

Earlier, their king, Mohammed VI, signed an agreement to normalize relations with Israel. The so-called “Abraham Accords” worked out by the Trump administration were a step towards the normalization of relations between Israel and the four Arab states – the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.

In 2020, when the signing took place, this event was perceived as a major regional breakthrough and a sign of a change in the political order in the Middle East. In addition, in a considerable number of articles during that period it is discussed that the Arab world has lost interest in the struggle for Palestine and turned its attention to other priorities. But the World Cup showed that ordinary people do not agree with the generally accepted position: politicians can talk about normalization, but they cannot impose it on ordinary people.

“Morocco is one of the Arab countries that all speak the same language, and share common traditions and cultural characteristics,” Walid says. – We all support each other: if you noticed, everyone was rooting for the Qataris, Saudis, and Tunisians, because we are united. Since Morocco is the only country in the Arab world at this World Cup, we have been supported by the rest.

It is also important for us to show that we stand for the people of Palestine. Together with us, not only the Arab countries, by the way, but also those who have experienced the burden of occupation and injustice, whose symbol has been Palestine for many years. The support act was not planned, it all comes from the heart of the people. Whoever supports Palestine supports humanity.”

 

Why Arabs Support Palestine

 

The confrontation between the Arab world and Israel goes far back in history, namely, at the end of the 19th century, when the Zionist movement was born, the goal of which was the struggle of the Jews for an independent state. Along with this, Arab nationalism began to develop, which opposed the appearance of Jews in the Palestinian lands.

In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration that would later be named after him, stating that the country “looks positively at the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” A mass immigration of Jews began, which the Arabs living in that land treated without any approval – Palestinian riots began.

In 1922, Palestine came under the British administration as a League of Nations mandate in order to establish safe conditions in the territories for the formation of Jewish communities. In addition, Jewish immigration was limited in order to avoid increasing clashes with the Arab community, which made up the majority of the population.

It did not help much: Jews continued to arrive in Palestine illegally, especially in the 1930s and early 1940s, when thousands of people were fleeing Nazi Nazism. At the end of the war, the percentage of the Jewish population was three times higher than at the very beginning of British rule.

The Arabs resisted the mass resettlement of Jews: the people constantly clashed, refusing, among other things, to work with each other. Each side claimed its right to the territory: the Arabs explained this by “the predominantly indigenous population that inhabited Palestine for centuries”, the Jews – by a historical association with the country, as well as by the rights that they received on these lands.

In 1947, the British government abandoned the mandate, simply because it could not cope with the unrest in Palestine. In the same year, the newly created UN adopted resolution No. 181 on the partition plan for Palestine, in which Jerusalem was to become an international city under the control of the organization. The Supreme Arab Council rejected this plan, despite its logic: the territory was divided into two worlds – Arab and Jewish – which should exist peacefully side by side. But instead, the UN got a war that dragged on for years.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the creation of an independent Jewish state, after which clashes between the Jewish militia and Arab armed groups began, which escalated into a war. The Jewish community fought for independence, the Arab community fought for the absence of Jews “on their own land.” It ended with the defeat of the Arab forces and the admission of Israel to the UN.

Then there was another important war – in 1967. Then Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq opposed Israel, stating that the lands of Palestine should be free from the Zionists, but the Arab world was again defeated in this struggle: Israel seized even more land – their area was 3.5 times larger than that was with the state before the war.

Since then, the Palestinians have insisted on recognizing their pre-war borders, and Israel has refused to withdraw from part of the territory because over the years there have been many Jewish settlements. On Jerusalem, the parties are also not ready to find a compromise – and it turns out that the two worlds have been living in a state of eternal confrontation for many years.

The Trump administration tried to resolve this issue, but many still believe that Palestine should be free and no “normalization” is possible here.

 

And what about Qatar?

 

Since the middle of the last century, many Palestinians have been living in Qatar, who fled here for shelter. Many also specially came to the World Cup to demonstrate their position – as we have already found out, the tournament has become an ideal platform for this.

“We want everyone in the world to know that Palestine is free,” Mohammad says, unfurling the flag. “It will, sooner or later. We came to this match to show the whole world that the land of Palestine is only for the Palestinians. We have no problems with Jews outside of our country. But we have problems with those Jews who occupy our lands. We need them to leave our country.”

 

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