By David Hennessy
GAA has reached the children living in the West Bank with the launch of GAA Palestine.
Youngsters in the conflicted region have been trying their hand at football and hurling in their very first training sessions.
Announcing the launch of the new sporting group in a social media post, Irish Sport for Palestine said that the organisation aimed to provide a space where children could “enjoy these sports and thrive amongst the turmoil of conflict”.
It added: “Our traditional Irish sports can give hope, confidence and connection to Palestinian children, and will be beside them with support all the way.”
The new GAA club has been launched with support from Gaels Against Genocide, Irish Sports for Palestine, Dubs For Palestine, Palestine Sports for Life.
FAJR Scientific brings free medical and surgical care to Palestine and was introduced to the community GAA Palestine serves in Ramallah by its representative Claire Liddy. This collaboration proved helpful as FAJR was very generous in its support by providing school shoes, school books, satchels, clothing etc to the amount of c$30,000.
There will be more training sessions at the Am’ari Camp, one of the region’s most densely populated refugee camps which is home to between 3,000 and 4,000 children.
GAA Palestine are accepting donations that will be used to fund training programmes, sports equipment and community events.
It was in January this year that The Irish World reported that London- Irish man Stephen Redmond had travelled to the West Bank and launched a campaign to raise funds for GAA kits for Palestinian children and to set up GAA Palestine.
As someone who grew up in London during the Troubles when anti- Irish sentiment was high, Stephen feels a solidarity with the Palestinians and on his trip he saw the circumstances of refugees and the oppression and violence that had become part of everyday life.
Stephen Redmond told The Irish World: “We visited the West Bank in January and after watching the situation out there, put the GAA to the community leaders, the Excellence Centre in Hebron and the Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah.
“We did get a lot of support for the idea from children and adults.
“I did set up the GoFundMe page at that time which you kindly broadcasted.
“We raised £1,960 on that which was fantastic.
“February, March we created more awareness.
“During April and May I’ve reached out more proactively with groups within Palestine and Ireland, such as Irish Sports for Palestine, Gaels against Genocide, Dubs for Palestine.
“Everyone is so helpful: No egos, it’s a matter of getting the best for the Palestinians.
“We are carrying on and forming teams.
“We have now got training sessions.
“We’ve had our first Gaelic football training session and two hurling training sessions completed in the Ramallah area.
“The children are loving it. I was sort of going with the football first but they just went for the hurley sticks when Clare Liddy showed them. They were just so excited to have some hurley sticks.
“It is nice to see.
“Boru Sports in Co. Clare have donated football kits and jerseys, so thanks to them.
“We are now designing kits.
“We formed an organising committee and one member Ken McCue, Director of the European Department, Dr Harry Edwards Foundation Sport for Social Change (Dr Harry Edwards was the founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights) put forward the idea of human rights being written on the team kits. The official sign which the UN want to get out there which is a hand in the shape of a bird which is what they want to disseminate so people know what the sign is, to bring human rights into areas which are affected through occupation and conflict.
“We’re putting that on the jerseys and on the shorts.
“It’s still very early days but I’m very proud to be part of it.
“We have an Instagram page now as well which is GAA_Palestine.
“We’ve now got over 1100 followers.
“We’re getting messages of support from Mexico to Australia. We have even been invited to a meeting with an Olympic Committee to discuss how they can assist elevating GAA Palestine.
“We’re also looking for someone who can make hurls in the West Bank.
“Getting hurls in is hard, getting anything in in fact.
“FAJR couldn’t get medical equipment.
“But we’re making progress.
“We’re helping people focus on something different rather than the conflict and bringing a bit of happiness.
“We’ve got a lot of equipment that’s gone in to support the people in the Am’ari Camp so we’re very happy with that.
“Also, we have been reached out to from someone and they believe they can set up a team in Bethlehem so we will have a Ramallah team, a Bethlehem team and a Hebron team so we could have seven a side games soon.
“And also there’s other Middle Eastern teams. There is a Middle Eastern GAA board, and we’ve reached out to them.
“We want to keep this as non-political as possible, to protect our members on the ground who can’t travel freely.
“Especially at the moment, we can’t travel from Hebron to Ramallah because of attacks.”
Stephen says great support is coming from the GAA community in Ireland. Since our chat here Iraq-born Leitrim hurler Zak Moradi has been named as the club’s first patron.
“Ireland is fantastic. All over Ireland, GAA- the players, the supporters, the managers, the coaches.
“We’re talking about legends even wanting to get involved and going over to train.
“Our organisation was set up as a relief organisation to help our own people to travel, to have games, to be able to communicate freely.
“Everyone I speak from to from GAA is sympathetic, is supportive, is offering their support.
“We actually have senior GAA players who want to go and train our members in the occupied territories.”
Asked if the situation there appears to have got worse since his visit in January, Stephen says: “It has got worse.
“When I was there, it had just sort of started to heat up in the West Bank, more in Jenin area, a little bit in Ramallah, not so much in Hebron but now it’s in Hebron as well.
“FAJR Scientific is doing great stuff. they’ve even promised to fly out some of the community from the Am’ari Camp for medical training at some stage as well as what they’re doing on the ground.”
Stephen says a goal is to bring children from Palestine to play GAA in Ireland, perhaps even Croke Park one day.
“My goal is for Palestine to play in an All- Ireland competition one day. That’s my personal goal, to see that.
“That’s a long term desire, but the short to medium term goal is to see them playing with their other colleagues, members in the GAA in Ireland.
“This is not just about sports for Palestine, this is more than just a sport.
“This is about the whole community aspect, the social aspect, having a conduit to reach out to another nation, another family you can interact with, you can bounce ideas off, have a shoulder to cry on, to talk about things, ask for help.
“We’re with them because they’ve been dealt a bad blow, a bad hand.
Does Palestine feel the friendship coming from Ireland?
“They do.
“They are so grateful and thanking Ireland so much and the Irish people for this. They know that we love them. They know that, they recognise that.
“They’re proud to be linked to Ireland, that they’ve got a friend there.
“They’re very grateful to Ireland and the GAA and they recognise that Ireland is standing with them.
“We’re not just paying lip service, we’re actually on the ground with them and building relationships.”
Palestine GAA are keen to hear from anyone who believes they can assist them.
You can also donate here.
