The Palestinian Media Watch organization reported on a little watched section of the Arab press - the sports page. Sometimes, relatively mundane events can reveal more about a society than its highly publicized or dramatic episodes.
PMW noted that a soccer tournament recently held at a school in Tul Karem, in the Palestinian Authority, was named after the suicide bomber ?Abed al-Basset Odeh, who was responsible for the Passover Massacre in Netanya last year. ?All seven school teams participating in the tournament are named after other Shahids [those who died for Allah],? reports PMW. The details of the sporting event appeared in al-Hayat al?Jadida, the official newspaper of Yasser Arafat?s regime, on January 21, 2003.
?Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid ?Abd al-Baset Odeh began with the participation of seven top teams,? the PA newspaper article reported, ?named after Shahids who gave their lives to redeem the Homeland. Isam, the brother of the Shahid [of the Passover eve Massacre], will distribute the trophies.? The teams subsequently listed for the enjoyment of Arab soccer fans - perhaps so that they might show a little local pride - include a team named after the perpetrator of the Passover Massacre, Odeh, of course, along with Fatah terrorist Tariq Abu Safaka, who killed two Jewish children and one adult in Hermesh on October 29, 2002.
PMW noted that a soccer tournament recently held at a school in Tul Karem, in the Palestinian Authority, was named after the suicide bomber ?Abed al-Basset Odeh, who was responsible for the Passover Massacre in Netanya last year. ?All seven school teams participating in the tournament are named after other Shahids [those who died for Allah],? reports PMW. The details of the sporting event appeared in al-Hayat al?Jadida, the official newspaper of Yasser Arafat?s regime, on January 21, 2003.
?Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid ?Abd al-Baset Odeh began with the participation of seven top teams,? the PA newspaper article reported, ?named after Shahids who gave their lives to redeem the Homeland. Isam, the brother of the Shahid [of the Passover eve Massacre], will distribute the trophies.? The teams subsequently listed for the enjoyment of Arab soccer fans - perhaps so that they might show a little local pride - include a team named after the perpetrator of the Passover Massacre, Odeh, of course, along with Fatah terrorist Tariq Abu Safaka, who killed two Jewish children and one adult in Hermesh on October 29, 2002.