Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
4 September
MASS PROTEST SILENCES ISRAELI SCOTLAND FOOTBALL GAME
On this day in 2002, protesters disrupted a Scottish-Israel international under- 21 football match in Hamilton. Police banned Palestinian flags so the 600 protesters used balloons in Palestinian colours, inflating them inside to make a large Palestinian flag. Protest volume meant the game was broadcast into Israel without sound and some Palestinians quickly found out what was going on. A pro-Zionist report later revealed the Israeli team manager was spitting nails at having to put up with two hours of high octane protests.
أدت الاحتجاجات الجماهيرية الى تعطيل المباراة الدولية بين فريقي اسكتلندا وإسرائيل
4 سبتمبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2002، قام محتجون بتعطيل مباراة كرة قدم دولية بين اسكتلندا وإسرائيل تحت سن 21 سنة في هاملتون. منعت الشرطة الأعلام الفلسطينية فاستعمل 600 متظاهر بالونات بألوان فلسطينية وقاموا بنفخها في الداخل لعمل علم فلسطيني كبير! حجم الاحتجاج ادّى الى بث المباراة إلى إسرائيل بدون صوت وسرعان ما اكتشف بعض الفلسطينيين ما يجري. كشف تقرير مؤيد للصهيونية في وقت لاحق أن مدير الفريق الإسرائيلي كان غاضبا على الموقف الذي أجبره تحمل ذلك الاحتجاج الصاخب ولمدة ساعتين.
1. Pro-Israel rant
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators vent their wrath against Israel outside the Hamilton ground by Marc Cowen Original in Glaswegian, 5 Sep 2002 no longer available online:
"ISRAEL'S young footballers faced a barrage of abuse on Wednesday in some of the most shameful scenes ever seen at a British football ground. They were greeted by a hail of boos and jeers as they walked onto the pitch at Hamilton for the Under-21 international against Scotland. The stunned Israelis stood proudly to attention as Hatikvah was played. But pro-Palestinian protesters screamed abuse at them throughout the national anthem. As the match got under way, spectators were shocked by the level of noise and the ferocity of the demonstrators' chants. "Terrorists" and "scum", screamed the mob. And when an Israeli player was brought down, there was a huge cheer.
The demonstrators had been warned against raising the Palestinian flag. But they still brought enough coloured balloons to form a makeshift one. The disgraceful scenes were seen throughout Israel as the match was being televised there. Before the "frien
dly", which Scotland won 2-1, many pro-Palestinian speakers screamed outrage into megaphones. They included the SNP's Lloyd Quinin, who claimed the Scottish Football Association had "disgraced Scottish football" by agreeing to stage the match. The MSP called George Bush an idiot for believing that Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was a man of peace and condemned Tony Blair for supporting the American government.
"We are dealing with criminals," he ranted. Quinin accused the Israeli players of being "ethnic cleansers" and "genocide merchants" and screamed that Israelis should "not be allowed to play football, chess or even draughts in this country again". Other speakers claimed that 21 of the 22 footballers in the Israeli party had served in the army and should be tried for war crimes. Still more raged that the players were nothing but militia men, "murdering Palestinian kids while they tried to play football.
"Before the match, 200 protesters had shocked the Israelis outside the Ballast stadium with chants of "Free Palestine" and "Victory to the intifada". A stunned Israeli team manager Eli Rozen told me: "We came here to play football. We have to put up with these problems from the Palestinians in Israel, but why should we have to put up with it here in Scotland?
"The Israeli team manager also told Cowen that "The police...and the SFA have been wonderful. They have had so many problems dealing with the pro-Palestinian supporters trying to have this game cancelled...We can only tell them thank you for making such an effort for us...Sadly, though, the protesters made themselves well heard both in the stadium and outside...(A)ll attempts to drown them out were in vain."
2. View from the terraces
Successful Scottish Protest against Israel's Military Football Team Sep 4, 2002
An Israeli football team made up of soldiers was set back on its heels by a determined protest against Israeli mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Well over 500 men and women gave a magnificent kick-off last Wednesday to the campaign against all Israeli sporting and cultural tours when they protested against the football "game of shame" between Scotland and Israel under 21s in Hamilton.
The Scotsman newspaper reported that "300 police and 90 stewards were on duty in and around the ground, more than were used at the Champions League final". The Glasgow Herald reported that "international politics overshadowed events on the park," as a result of the protest organised by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Muslim Association of Britain...
The impact of the demonstration is revealed by the furious pro-Israeli report above. The Israeli team, an appalled Marc Cowan claimed "The stunned Israelis" were shocked by "pro-Palestinian protesters [who] screamed abuse at them throughout the national anthem." The so-called abuse was the mass chant of "Sharon - terrorist!", a statement of the obvious.
The demonstators showed creativity in getting round the Strathclyde police threat to arrest anyone holding a Palestinian flag inside the ground. Demonstrators brought coloured balloons to form a makeshift flag anfd hoisted it aloft. The whole game was "seen throughout Israel as the match was being televised there" without any sound. The message of popular opposition to Israeli crimes carried in silence into a Palestinian and Israeli homes that night.
Although the figure of 21 actually came from the Israeli Football Association, Cowen writes that "speakers claimed that 21 of the 22 footballers in the Israeli party had served in the army and should be tried for war crimes.