Dubai and the UAE have been receiving a bit of flack this week when they denied a visa to an Israeli tennis player to compete in Dubai. The Israeli tennis association and others within the sport are calling foul saying that politics should not be a factor when it comes to competitive sporting events.
Well, sorry kids, but it enters it all the time. The boycotting of the 1980 Olympics (Israel was one of the boycotting countries)and the 1984 Olympics quickly come to mind. If this truly IS political, then there are few countries on earth that can say they haven’t done the same, and on a much greater scale. The UAE and Israel don’t have diplomatic relations with each other, and you can’t even enter the country if you have an Israeli stamp on your passport. Because the Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign nation, to them it makes your passport illegitimate because it has an illegitimate stamp. They are not the only country to do this, and this type of thing happens in a few political hotspots around the world.
The Dubai authorities claim that their denial is due to concern for her safety, as Emirates has a lot of people who have very strong feelings about the recent activity in Gaza, including a ton of Palestinian expats living and working there. The player in question, Shahar Peer, had to endure protests in New Zealand concerning Gaza while she was trying to play. There’s no doubt in my mind that politics IS playing some sort of a role, but I also think they have a point. It’s not going to do them any good if she’s harmed while here, so in a sense they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
My empathy for her is also dampened because Israel’s record of “keeping politics out of things” in anything, including sports, is abysmal(see Olympics reference above). For example, take the movement of Palestinain students out of Gaza. So far, the only people who have even had a slight chance of getting out last year were 7 Fulbright scholars, and that was only after their grants had been pulled and given to other people because they weren’t allowed to leave. (actually, later the US State Department had some equally ridiculous behavior concerning this. The link is definitely worth a look). Only half of those students ever made it out, and then-Secretary Condi Rice had to get directly involved before there was a whole international crisis about it. I personally find that more appauling than some woman not getting to play in a tennis tournament.
That being said, I’ve occasionally suffered while traveling or even just chatting with friends due to America’s foreign policy, over which I have no control, so I don’t want to see anyone else put out because of the actions of their government. I hope the situation gets resolved in a way that’s mutually amicable to all involved parties.
I think your final paragraph is important… we don’t know anything about this woman’s politics. I mean, sitting at home blogging freely in a fairly open society such as the UK, it would be wrong of me to judge how people should behave in regards to their government’s policies. I’ve met white South Africans who were happy to see the end of Apartheid, but from what I can tell, did sod all to end it. Many US citizens don’t like the fact the US tortures people in Guantanamo, but 99.8% do nothing about that. The UK has been involved in illegal wars and apart from writing a few letters to lawmakers and going on a couple of marches, I haven’t really done anything major to change that.
For that reason, I don’t have anything against this woman. She plays pro tennis, and I imagine she’s sponsored and is therefore not allowed to comment on anything that will affect that. She could go out wearing a ‘Free Gaza’ t shirt during a match, but then again if she’s young and has a passion for tennis, should she be on the receiving end of the shit storm in her home country that may create?
Anyway, I think sport should be played and politics kept out generally. Unless its a huge event like the last olympics which acts as a propaganda tool and creates huge revenue for an authoritarian regime, what is a sporting event going to do? The England football national teams from many countries with questionable regimes… those regimes aren’t run by the 11 kids kicking a football around on the pitch.
Israel not being recognised by other Mid East states also has a big effect in soccer because it means they have to be part of the European association within FIFA (the international governing body) as Mid Eastern teams wont play them. The effect of this is that Israel don’t qualify for anything as they have to play European teams to get into tournaments and they’re way too lame.
I’m also pretty sure the Dubai authorities could give the tennis player adequate security. I dunno if G W Bush or any other hated politicians have ever visited the area, but I’m sure they’ve dealt with bigger security issues.
Like you say though, people can’t really have it both ways. If Israel wants their sportsmen and women to play in the UAE or wherever else, then they have to let an Iranian wrestler take part in a wrestling tournament that takes place in Israel (I’ve just made it up, but you get my point!).
Well Kennedy121 there are real life scenarios in which Israel and other “western” nations have done the same thing as the UAE. In 2006 the Palestinian National Soccer (futbol) Team was routinely forced to forfeit matches because the players were not allowed out of the West Bank and Gaza. In November of 2007 18 of the players were not allowed to leave. The team was scheduled to play against Singapore.
Also in 2007 nineteen teenagers from Gaza were denied entrance into Britain. They had plans to go to a 3 week soccer camp.
Last example : A 21-year-old Down Syndrome athlete from Palestine is forced to stay at home after being refused permission by Israeli authorities to leave for the Special Olympics.
Report on Special Olympics, Ireland 2003 (Irish Times 18 June 2003
Where is the uproar?
Hey Boulos, you don’t have to convince me, those examples if true are terrible examples of young Palestinians unable to live their lives the way their Israeli or other national counterparts do, simply because they were born within a certain demarcation of land. It’s a joke. As Steph points out, this doesn’t only concern sports, but educational exchanges and opportunities as well.
I remember reading something about a game between Palestinians and Israeli’s in soccer. I know there some exchanges of players between the two and tournaments involving Israeli and Palestinian kids which means these people grow up knowing more about Israeli’s or Palestinians than they are told by the politicians, news media etc throughout most of their lives.