Posted on 04/07/2002 11:12:03 AM PDT by Hildy
Can you imagine if they said that about any other religion? Do they complain when a young male makes the Cross of Jesus when he's finished his routine. Every day, more and more of this, and we sit back and we accept it.
Chile's Jews, Palestinians clash over soccer club
By Reuters, April 3, 2002
SANTIAGO - More than 10,000 miles from the Middle East, Jews and Arabs are at odds in Chile over a professional soccer club's support for the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel.
Acting on a complaint by Chile's Jewish community, soccer authorities summoned the chairman of First Division club Palestino for talks on Tuesday after he refused to stop holding a minute's silence for Palestinian "martyrs" before games.
The club, founded by Arab immigrants, is also in trouble for flying a Palestinian flag at half-staff at its ground in Santiago in apparent defiance of a national ban on displaying political symbols at stadiums.
Some 300,000 of Chile's 15 million population claim Palestinian family ties.
Community leaders say the Middle East violence has heightened their sense of identity as Palestinians.
"We have family members -- aunts, cousins, friends -- who are being killed. That is our people, our family there," Nicolas Abuawad, chairman of Palestino, told Reuters.
Unlike the mostly Muslim Palestinian diaspora in the Middle East, many of Chile's Palestinians are Christians whose ancestors fled conscription into the Ottoman army in the early 19th century.They maintain close ties to Christian Palestinians in and around Bethlehem.
Abuawad was defiant ahead of Tuesday's meeting with the National Association of Professional Football although the club could be sent to a disciplinary hearing and later fined.
"I have every right to hold these protests in my stadium," he said. "They shouldn't be so critical because in the most recent minutes of silence we have also been remembering the Israeli dead," Abuawad said.
Palestino, which plays in the Palestinian national colors of red, white, green and black, won the national championship once in 1978 and is regarded as a middle-of-the-table team.
Jewish leaders complained to the football association after a Palestino home game last month with league champions Santiago Wanderers.
"There were banners carrying political propaganda such as 'Palestine Resists' and a minute's silence for martyrs of the intifada," said Marcos Levy, deputy head of the Committee of Jewish Representatives, which complained to the football association.
Both sides say relations between Chile's Palestinians and the small Jewish community of 18,000 people had become worse in recent months as the Middle East violence escalates. "It is not the Jewish community in Chile which has caused the tension. Our position is that the conflict should be resolved, or not as the case may be, in the Middle East itself but the Palestinian campaign has brought the conflict to Chile to a certain degree," Levy said.
The South American nation plays no role in Middle East diplomacy.
The Chilean Palestinians were part of a wave of Arab immigrants to Latin America that reached its peak in early 20th century. Former Argentine President Carlos Menem has a Syrian ethnic background and Ecuador'sex-leader Abdala Bucaram also has Arab roots.
Where in the hell is the map with these lines?
No that's not the point of this article, but it's true. Ice dancing is no fun. They never fall on their arses. ;-o
It is estimated that between 200,000 and 240,000 people were murdered. Approximately 175,000 Jews were murdered between 22 June 1941 (the start of operation Barbarossa) and November 1941. Most of the Jews in well over 200 towns had been killed by that time regardless of age, gender, occupation, and suitability for work. Approximately 45,000 Jews were still living at that date in four ghettos: 20,000 in Vilna; 17,500 in Kovno; 5,000 in Shavli; and 500 in Swieciany. (The Jager report of Einsatzkommando 3, dated 1 December 1941, states 15,000 Jews remained in Vilna and in Kovno, 4,000 in Shavli.) Although the main locations are well known, and concern the three largest cities, little has been recorded about those killed in other areas. Many were killed on roads and in forests. Some were taken to work camps in Latvia, Byelorussia and Estonia. Some were transported to, and killed in camps such as Stutthof. Many Jews from other countries were brought to Lithuania and killed. Some died in the Partisan resistance movement and in the Red Army. Many died from starvation and disease.
http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/memfound.htm
Europeans have to stick up with each other. I suppose they just hate losing to a couple of Jews. Got it now?
So much for subtlety on Free Republic. LOL!
It was Tim Gebel who crossed himself before and after his performances. His presentations were awesome.
Regarding the Israeli ice dancers, their costumes sucked and their program sucked. It was a big mistake to dance to cheesy bar mitzvah music. It reminded me of a Mel Brooks movie.
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