Medal of Honor for Peres, Starvation for Mahmoud Sarsak
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- Published on Thursday, 14 June 2012 10:55
By Mosab Qashoo, New York
In a cruel twist of irony, Israeli President Shimon Peres will be honored tonight with the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" at a lavish White House feast while Mahmoud Sarsak, rising Palestinian soccer star, nears death by starvation. Sarsak is on his 86th day of hunger strike to demand the basic human freedoms denied him by Peres' government. To add insult to injury, Shimon Peres will use this opportunity to present Obama with a petition to free an Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, who was caught leaking Pentagon secrets.
Peres is a man of extensive military and even insurgent background, who adopted religious views more extreme than the rest of his community. Peres has been quoted as saying that, as a child in Poland, he smashed his parents' radio because they were listening during Sabbath. He joined the Haganah at a young age, an armed Jewish militia responsible for massacres, mass displacement and other human rights abuses. After the establishment of the state of Israel, Peres was in charge of the government's weapons dealing. He was a fierce advocate of settlement activity, especially in his early career. He has been Minister of state, defense, communication, transportation and immigrant absorption, Prime Minister and is currently President. In his political career he has overseen massacres, wars, occupation, discrimination, human rights abuses, the breaking of political treaties and spearheaded Israel's nuclear proliferation. His government currently detains Mahmoud Sarsak and over 500 other Palestinian political prisoners without charge or trial, against international human rights law.
According to his family, Mahmoud Sarsak had never cared about politics and spent all his waking moments thinking about and playing soccer. The Sarsaks are refugees from the city of Ashdod (approximately 20 miles south of Tel Aviv) but Mahmoud grew up in a refugee camp in southern Gaza. As a very young child, he excelled at playing soccer
and by eleven he was already representing Palestine in the Youth Olympic Games in Tehran. He played on several teams including the Gaza Youth Sports Club and Rafah Sports Club. Due to the limited resources in the southern Gaza Strip, Sarsak moved to the north to play professionally. Soon outgrowing the Gazan league, Sarsak was selected
to join one of the leading West Bank clubs. In 2009, he received the permits that Israel requires to go from one Palestinian territory to another and headed off to the West Bank to realize his dreams. Without any warning or explanation, Sarsak was arrested en route by the Israeli military. From his 2009 arrest until today, his peak athletic years have been wasted in Israeli jails. His detention under the vague "Unlawful Combatant" law has been continually renewed without charge, trial or even allegation. Now he has spent almost three months in non-violent protest against the injustices leveled against him. Even if he survives his hunger strike, he will face many health issues that will prevent him from being a professional or possibly even recreational athlete.
Hors d'oevres and trophies for the militant, starvation and death for the peaceful civilian athlete. What kind of message are we in America trying to send to the world by giving freedom medals to the violent, and depriving the non-violent of their freedom?
