{"id":17736,"date":"2018-10-09T07:25:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T07:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=17736"},"modified":"2018-10-09T07:25:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T07:25:51","slug":"the-price-of-assads-victory-syrian-civilians-starved-of-humanitarian-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=17736","title":{"rendered":"The price of Assad\u2019s victory: Syrian civilians starved of humanitarian aid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nJERUSALEM: Aqal passes to Aqal, who finds Aqal in space out wide. He squares to Aqal, who smashes home a strike, sending the crowd of yet more family members into hysterics.<\/p>\n

\nThe match inside Jerusalem\u2019s walled Old City was part of a month-long football tournament in which the largest Palestinian families play each other to be dubbed champions of the city.<\/p>\n

\nBuilding on the inaugural tournament two years ago, participants say this year\u2019s event holds particular symbolism after US President Donald Trump\u2019s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\nPalestinians saw the December decision as an attempt to deny their claims to the disputed city. They view its eastern sector, where the Old City is located, as the capital of their future state.<\/p>\n

\nFor players and fans, the tournament is a defiant display of Palestinian pride \u2014\u00a0 and footballing skill.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe feel this is our land, so we want to stress we are the owners of the land by having a Palestinian tournament here,\u201d organizer Muntaser Edkaidek told AFP.<\/p>\n

\nIt is also a display of family ties that informally govern East Jerusalem\u2019s 300,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\nIn Jerusalem, family history is often entwined with the city\u2019s unique religious and political heritage.<\/p>\n

\nThe Khaldis claim to be descendants of one of the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s closest companions.<\/p>\n

\nThe Joudehs and Nuseibehs, both Muslim families, have for centuries safeguarded the keys to the church in the Old City built where Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified and then buried.<\/p>\n

\nIsrael occupied East Jerusalem along with the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and later declared the entire city its united capital.<\/p>\n

\nSince then, Palestinians say they have been denied the full range of rights and benefits given to Jewish citizens.<\/p>\n

\nMore than 200,000 Israelis now live in mostly modern, newly built blocs east of the 1967 armistice line \u2014 decried as illegal settlements by the international community, but thriving and growing under Israeli law.<\/p>\n

\nThe Old City is only one square kilometer, but hosts some of the holiest sites in Christianity, Islam and Judaism.<\/p>\n

\nIt is also a functioning neighborhood of more than 35,000 people, with homes, schools and shops tightly packed in.<\/p>\n

\nReaching the match involves winding through labyrinthine streets before the road opens onto a floodlit fake grass pitch flanked by the 16th-century walls of the Old City.<\/p>\n

\nA single stand can host a hundred or so fans.<\/p>\n

\nThe Abu Sneihehs \u2014 reigning champions and possibly the largest of Jerusalem clans, with thousands bearing the surname \u2014\u00a0 were knocked out in the first round, raising hopes for less renowned names.<\/p>\n

\nThe Aqals, a relatively small family, are taking on the far larger Sanuqurats in the second round.<\/p>\n

\nBefore the match, the referee checks documents \u2014 without the right surname you cannot even enter the pitch.<\/p>\n

\nOne of the team\u2019s two Mohammeds, a burly striker whose look is more mechanic than Messi, has forgotten his ID and is temporarily barred.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWill a picture of it do?\u201d he pleads, waving one on a mobile phone.<\/p>\n

\nOn the side of the pitch is a six-foot (1.8-meter) picture of one of the tournament\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n

\nHe was arrested a year ago by Israeli police and jailed for involvement in an organization which claims to protect the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, located not far away in the Old City, Israeli media reports said.<\/p>\n

\nIsraeli security forces did not respond to a request regarding the case, but the state says the Al-Aqsa Youth group is linked to banned Islamist movement Hamas.<\/p>\n

\nThe Al-Aqsa compound, which hosts the Dome of the Rock, is the third-holiest site for Muslims and a key rallying point for Palestinian identity.<\/p>\n

\nFor Jews, it is built on the Temple Mount, their holiest site.<\/p>\n

\nOrganizers said police showed up on October 2 and removed the picture. Israeli police did not respond to requests for information.<\/p>\n

\nOn the pitch, the Aqals take an early lead but are quickly pegged back.<\/p>\n

\nThe standard is not much better than average pick-up games across the world, but the crowd loves it.<\/p>\n

\nHamzy Abedy is not even really watching \u2014\u00a0 instead facing toward the 25 hardcore members of the extended Aqal family, orchestrating them in ever more vociferous chants.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are all children of Jerusalem, so I brought all the team with me,\u201d he laughs, pointing at the frenzied teenagers.<\/p>\n

\nOther participants said the tournament helped them meet members of their extended family.<\/p>\n

\nJust as the city they battle over is contested, there are also concerns over their pitch.<\/p>\n

\nAn Israeli court could yet decide to build more than 20 Israeli settlement homes in the vicinity, although there have been no developments in the case for several years, Aviv Tatarsky from the Ir Amim anti-settlement NGO said.<\/p>\n

\nYet it still concerns Palestinian residents worried about being swallowed by Jewish expansion into east Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\nAbedy said Trump\u2019s recognition of Jerusalem made Palestinians more determined to remain in the city.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTrump is talking into the wind,\u201d he said after the match.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHe is not able to cancel our existence. We are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Aqals run out 6-1 victors, with Mohammed scoring one and setting up another two.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSport is the best thing to unify the Arabs,\u201d he said, carrying his toddler away from the pitch.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAll the families will meet together and know each other. The whole world loves football.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM: Aqal passes to Aqal, who finds Aqal in space out wide. He squares to Aqal, who smashes home a strike, sending the crowd of yet more family members into hysterics. The match inside Jerusalem\u2019s walled Old City was part of a month-long football tournament in which the largest Palestinian families play each other to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}