Nadene Goldfoot
Now the Palestinians are accusing Israel of deliberately angering them by inviting sports stars to play with them. Israeli President Peres in particular is catching all the heck and is being called "the tip of the triangle of destruction" since the Peres Center for Peace invites the stars to visit. Peres's Center for Peace promotes co-existence between Israelis and Arabs by holding Peace Matches where mixed Israeli-Palestinian football teams play against top international teams like Real Madrid. According to the Palestinians, this amounts to anti-Palestinian activity.
Israel just can't do anything to please the Palestinians, so Wasfi Shahwan wrote that "it is clear that Israel is able to invent ploys and set traps in order to attract the Arabs' favorite international football stars...to cause frustration to the Palestinians...since our enemy is shrewd, it is well aware of how the Spanish football League is admired by Palestinians and Arabs; therefore, it continued to target the stars of the outstanding Spanish League..".
When writing about Israel, the Palestinian referred to Israel as "the Zionist entity." They write that "the Zionist octopus' arms reach out in every direction," and placed the words Israel and Tel Aviv in quotation marks showing that the PA does not recognize Israel.
This should show others how warped such hateful attitudes can take a people. Jose Mourinho, the present manager of "Real Madrid" did visit Israel in 2005 when he was the manager of the English League "Chelsea." He said he went to Israel to prove that football brings hope and to help the Peres Center to create a better world through having these mixed teams where Palestinians and Israelis had to learn to work together. What you and I may think that this was indeed a wonderful concept, went over like a flat tire with the Palestinians.
No, don't anyone try to change the attitude of Palestinians that have taken their leaders so long to forge. It must have knocked their socks off when they saw the respect an Argentinian football favorite of theirs, Maradona, showed for Judaism when he wore a keepah (skullcap) at the Western Wall and prayed.
Despite the hateful Palestinian editorials, Peres is making inroads. The Simon Peres Center and the Dallas Cup are coming together to let these young U12 boys just be boys. In an interview on Dallas TV, a young Palestinian boy, when asked by the interviewer how was he getting on with his Israeli roommate replied “When I came, he was my enemy but now he is my friend.”
The wonder here is that Israel has not given up hope of ever changing the Palestinian goals of not living in peace with Israel. Perhaps a peaceful generation can come about.
Resource: Arutz Sheva: news@israelnationalnews.com PA Media Says Peres 'Poisons' Sports Stars by Elad Benari
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