Around twenty young Palestinian sportswomen are in France for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A project led by an association which aims to break a daily life marked by war and to promote the values of peace and solidarity carried by the Olympics.
What a wait, sweat, fear and sometimes anger before getting there. In a heat of almost 40 degrees on Tuesday, July 30, they wave their huge Palestinian flags to the ululations in an Olympic enclosure*. The official cameras broadcast their smiles and their joy on the giant screen that sits above the 3×3 basketball court on Place de la Concorde in Paris.
” It’s a dream come true, to be in France during the Olympic Games. “, say in unison these 22 Palestinian sportswomen, amateurs and professionals, all living in eleven of the nineteen refugee camps of West Bank busy.
A dream fraught with pitfalls since upon entering the perimeter of the Paris Olympicsa few steps from the Place de la Madeleine, a dozen gendarmes isolate the delegation on the sidewalk of the rue Royale for “verification”. It’s too hot and I don’t understand why we have to wait here “, one of them gets annoyed, her T-shirt bearing a watermelon – symbol of Palestinian resistance – stuck to her body. Do the keffiyehs, armbands and Palestinian flags raise questions? The Palestinian Olympic team is nevertheless part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, just like the more than 200 other nations qualified for these XXXIII Olympiads. Everywhere in the capital for a week now, national flags have been displayed on the backs of tourists from the four corners of the planet.
A heated discussion ensued with the soldiers – in telephone contact with “higher up” – before the astonished eyes of the young women: the Association for twinning between Palestinian refugee camps and French cities (AJPF) has been welcoming these twenty or so young sportswomen since July 21 and until August 2, to help them discover disciplines, practice some of them, share their daily lives with the French, but above all “ to bring to life and promote the Olympic values of equality and peace through sport for all “With the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Consulate in Jerusalem, the association, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, aims to use the 2024 Olympic Games to promote popular women’s sport. On the program: training sessions, visits, discussions with young people to whom they share their daily lives, explaining their luck to live free. They also share their culture and interact with the mayors of the six partner cities of the project.
Ambassadors of Palestine
After an “investigation”, the security cordon around the delegation was loosened. Only the signs bearing the AJPF logo, used by the group to avoid getting lost, were confiscated by the police… Here we go ” exclaims Leïla! This long quarter of an hour of incomprehension in the heat obviously does not affect the enthusiasm of the young Palestinian sportswomen who are experiencing an unforgettable day in more ways than one.
Up at dawn to arrive on time in Paris from Villeneuve-Saint-Denis, in Seine-et-Marne, the young women’s marathon begins with a visit to the Eiffel Tower. The delegation struggles to arrive at the appointed time, the young girls stop at every turn to photograph the Iron Lady. From the second floor, while the cheers of the beach volleyball match being played live on the Champs de Mars resound, the selfies begin and accelerate. At the top and after a few warnings about the fact that it is strictly forbidden to display flags on the site, the phones are running at full speed, some young people even making video calls with their loved ones in Palestine. It’s wonderful, we know how lucky we are, three of them say in chorus, but we remain unhappy and sad despite everything, because we know what our families and loved ones are going through at the moment in Palestine.. »
” These young girls represent the future of Palestine, they who, we hope and we do everything for, will tomorrow carry the foundations of free Palestine, supports Camille Naget, member of the AJPF who initiated the project. We absolutely wanted to carry out this project around the Olympic Games so that the Games were not just an international competition that belongs to others.” And the active member of the AJPF, who spares no effort to ensure that the young women are fulfilled by their stay, insists on the fact that these Olympic Games must carry and bring to life the values of Olympism: solidarity, peace and fraternity. We wanted those who are the face of Palestine today, who practice sports on a daily basis, in refugee camps, in difficult conditions, to also be part of this moment. Because Palestine is in an unprecedented moment in its history, a massacre of a scale never seen since the Nakba, we also wanted them to be ambassadors of the word of Palestine. In France, the media constantly dehumanize Palestinians. We wanted them to be the ones to come and talk about their living conditions and to be able to put faces to the suffering that the Palestinian people are experiencing today. »
“No double standards, that’s enough”
The political situation in the West Bank and the Gaza strip is omnipresent in the minds of these young women “ambassadors”, dressed to the nines for the occasion, even the tips of their nails for some, painted in the colors of the keffiyeh or the Palestinian flag. The death toll in the enclave has reached 40,000, raids and arrests are intensifying relentlessly in the occupied territories where more than 500 Palestinians have been killed since October 7. According to the Palestinian Olympic Committee, 300 athletes and volunteers from the world of sport have been killed in the Gaza Strip.
The moment of a non-negotiable thirst-quenching break under the Eiffel Tower after this long visit to the summit, the news thus resurfaces. Videos of daily life in Gaza and the West Bank make a few phones beep while the young athletes are finalizing their latest “stories” on the Parisian monument. Each of them has a parent or a loved one who was killed or imprisoned by Israel.
After a long and torrid walk on the Parisian pavement, it is time for congratulations, addressed by the Palestinian ambassador to France. Between two hugs with the young girls and a few poorly concealed tears for several of them, Hala Abou Hassira warmly thanks the AJPF then delivers a clear message in Arabic and French: ” This very beautiful initiative comes at a very important time. We are experiencing a global event: the Olympic Games. The participation of young Palestinian women means that they carry the message of the Palestinian people, carry the cause of the Palestinian people. They also represent the beautiful face of Palestine which is part of the nations. We are no different from other peoples of the Earth. No double standards. That’s enough. We have a lot of excellence, we also have a love of life. It is a message to say that we must continue to fight first of all for our freedom, to strengthen our resilience on our land on which we are anchored and rooted, and to send a message to the whole world: we are a people who aspire to peace, freedom, equality as well. It is a fundamental right and it is through such initiatives that I see this visibility being made concrete. We will continue together until liberation. Long live Palestine, long live France. »
The day is ending but the temperature is still not going down. Ruwaida, her eyes tired from the long day, struggles to untie her Palestinian flag, so big that it feels like a dress. She lives in Aidi camp, but has many family members in Gaza. My presence at the Olympics is very important, to show that we are here, she confides at full speed. I am so proud to have carried the Palestinian flag today, despite all the difficulties we have faced. Sports are an element leading to peace, but peace and freedom only come through resistance. And women are very important in the Palestinian issue. Women are the plant and the flower of Palestine, but also the strength. »
On August 2, the young women flew to their respective camps to tell their sporting journey, literally and figuratively, and spread their message. Young women refugees in their own country. According to UNRWA, more than 871,000 Palestinians live in these refugee camps. There are nearly 6 million of them worldwide.
*For rights and authorization reasons, we cannot publish photos taken inside the Olympic venue.