Palestinian Profiles: Omar Jarun

  At first glimpse, you wouldn't think Omar Jarun could possibly be a Palestinian footballer. Towering at a ridiculous height of 6 feet 5 inches, Omar looks more like he plays american football and is as American and white as can get. He has a deep, southern voice and dosen't speak a word of Arabic. However, Omar is a Palestinian football legend. Since his first callup to the team in 2007, Omar has established himself as a great of Palestinian football and by far one of the greatest defenders to represent Palestine. At age 31, Jarun's career is coming to a close and we look back into the start of his career, his greatest moments, and current performance.
  Omar was born in Kuwait to an American mother and father from Jordan, but had Palestinian roots. With the ensuing Gulf War, Jarun's family fled the country when Omar was still at a young age. They moved to the promised land, The United Sates and lived in Peachtree, Georgia. Omar was raised and started his footballing career here. Jarun played for his high school soccer team, and showed immense talent as a forward (later he changes to a more defensive role). Combined with his incredible vision and towering height, Jarun was a top talent and a move to a top college for soccer was imminent. Like every young teenager, Jarun dreamt of playing for the United States National team, but it was to be otherwise.

Omar using his height to beat a defender and win a header. 

    Omar was offered to play soccer for the University of Memphis and later at the University of Dayton, where he started his promising career. Jarun was a great forward and later center back, but not enough to be drafted into the MLS, so he had to start his professional career from the bottom. He was offered his first professional contract with American third division side Fort Wayne Fever in Indiana. Jarun had to crawl his way up to a truly great team, and stated by giving consistent performances with his lowly team. Upon his impressive games in Indiana, Jarun was spotted by Chicago Fire FC, and got an offer to be a part of their U-23 squad. After a year, it was time for Omar to move on, and he decided to move back to where he grew up, Georgia. He played a solid two years with the second division side, Atlanta Silverbacks.
     Atlanta was where Omar started making a name for himself, and got the attention of Palestinian and Jordanian scouts looking for footballers who had roots in their respective countries. Omar was the product of the Palestinian diaspora and was highly coveted for scouts looking for incredible, foreign talent to bolster the squad. Despite an offering from the highly rated Jodanian national team, Omar agreed to play for the land of his ancestors and be a part of Palestine's unjust, difficult, and dangerous footballing journey. At club level, Omar was offered a move to another NASL side Vancouver Whitecaps (started in MLS in 2010) where he played his some of the best games in his career. He even featured in a match agianst L.A. Galaxy and superstar David Beckham. However, Jarun's most incredible stories come form his lesser known and highly underated national team.

   Palestinian football is now greater then it has ever been, but it was a long, difficult, and dangerous road to get there. Jarun started in 2007, where he would become an integral part of Palestine's under-preforming, under funded, and highly disappointing team. The team faced all sort of problems, from internal problems with the PFA(Palestinian Football Association) to external problems including travel restriction, player arrests, and other problems put in place by Israel. Football was Palestine's only voice, and a  medium for the country to get some international recognition it despretaley needs and deserves. With knowledge of a rapidly growing team, Israel has tried everything to hinder any team progress by arresting and torturing players (Mahmoud Sarsak), murdering former players (Ahed Zaqout), and placing extremely difficult travel restrictions to avoid the team from leaving the country. Despite all this, Omar Jarun was not afraid of playing and was proud to represent his people. Although not much to show for it, Omar career with Palestine team has been nothing short of incredible. Despite enduring several disappointing losses, Jarun has been an active part of the squad. He has participated in all types of tournaments including the West Asian Football Federation Championship, 2 disappointing World Cup qualifying campaigns, and several runs in the AFC Challenge Cup. His hard work finally came to fruition in the summer of 2014, when he lead Palestine to an AFC Challenge cup victory and allowed no goals the entire tournament.

Omar (middle) preparing for a World Cup qualification game.

       For all his hard work and dedication, Jarun was rewarded by not being chosen to play in Palestine's biggest and most important tournament, the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. After a horrendous tournament, Palestine's faliure of a coach, Ahmad El- Hassan, will be shaking his head at the stupid decision to not bring Omar along. After several brief stints with teams around the world including Belgium, Omar returned to another NASL team, Ottawa Fury, and is an important member of their squad. Omar's future with the Palestine national team is uncertain, and he may decide to hang up his boots after not being chosen despite all his hard work. However, Palestinian fans everywhere can only pray Omar decides to remain with the team, for his experience and work ethic is unprecedented. On a personal note, I want to say I have met Omar and must describe him as a gentle giant, and an extremely kind and humble man. I watched his NASL game between Ottawa and his former team Atlanta, and despite not playing, he met up with me after the game and was extremely kind. His contagious smile, combined with his ridiculous work ethic makes him a legend on and off the pitch. I speak for Palestine fans everywhere when I say Omar is one of the greatest players to have worn the Palestinian jersey, and can only hope that he decides to remain with the squad. Thank you Omar!

Omar running with the ball in Palestine's game vs. Qatar

For more on Palestinian football, be sure to check out http://footballpalestine.blogspot.com/
Omar Highlight Video:

My pictures with Omar: 

Me and my brother with the man himself, Omar Jarun. 

Piece of Palestine: Apartheid Wall

       If there is one physical structure that symbolizes the Palestinian struggle, it's the Apartheid Wall. Formally known as Israeli West Bank Barrier, the Wall stretches almost 500 km long across the West Bank. Created in 2003, the divider was implemented after the Second Palestinian Intifada as a mean of protection for the Israeli people. However, the negative consequences the barrier has had on the Palestinian people far outweighs any positive implications towards bringing peace. This Wall has had numerous impacts on Palestinians living in the West Bank, including but not limited to continued loss of Palestinian land, separation between Palestinian families, negative impacts on Palestinian education and medical services, increased difficulty in traveling (as if it wasn't hard enough already), prevention of jobs, and a drastic negative impact on Palestine's economy.  As horrible and past our time (Berlin Wall anyone?) the creation of the Wall may seem, there is one troubling fact that is worst of all: The Wall is barely halfway complete and will extend over 800 km in the coming years.

         In my frequent visits to the West Bank, I have seen the Wall in all its enormity several times and it never fails to shock me. Perhaps the most incredible,beautiful aspect of the wall is the graffiti that covers almost every inch. Physical products of apartheid  is a modern day rarity, so several world renowned artists along with frustrated Palestinian youth never turn down the chance to mark the wall with symbols of hope, freedom, and political figures. Famous street artist, Banksy, has also added his stunning work to the Apartheid Wall, which has begun to transform into an artistic movement. In my visits, I have seen several murals of political leaders including Yaser Arafat and Mahmoud Barghouti along with an essay against apartheid sprayed across the Wall, spanning for miles. The fact that the international community has done so little to prevent the ongoing construction of such a discriminatory structure both saddens and disappoints me. Several UN resolutions have been made to halt construction of the Wall, but has always failed due to U.S. vetoes.  Despite the fact that construction of such barriers on foreign land is a major violation of International Law, the construction has resumed and doesn't look to end any time soon. 

     Although the Wall may have initially served a purpose of protecting Israeli citizens from attacks by hostile Palestinians, it has now become far to excessive and invasive. In fact, the Wall has major economic consequences for both Palestine and Israel. The Palestinian consequences are obvious and include preventing any form of travel between cities, destroying several Palestinian farmlands, halting any progress of Palestinian job opportunities, and many more. The construction also negatively affects Israel, for a major chunk of government spending is put into the unnecessary construction. Millions of dollars have been poured into the construction, and even took so much that in 2010 Israel had to slow down construction as a result of excessive spending. Despite these effects, Israel refuses to end the siege of Palestinian land in the name of "self-protection."
   Since the construction doesn't look to end anytime soon, we must try to look at the positives such as  the medium of non violent self expression the Wall provides. As a Palestinian, it excites me to see so much artistic attention the Wall has received and how the thing meant to weaken us is giving us life. I urge anyone who visits Palestine to take a visit to the Aparthied Wall (it literally spans across half of Palestine, so its really not that hard) and bask in it's beauty. The Wall embodies the everyday struggles Palestinians face in living in their own land. Perhaps the most vivid, artistic part of the Wall is in the city of  Al- Ram, just across Palestine's national football stadium. When the gun fails to further the Palestinian cause, it is time to turn to the paintbrush, a medium of Palestinian representation that can be seen across the World.
More on the Wall and its effect on Palestinians: http://www.stopthewall.org/
Gallery of Pictures from the Apartheid Wall:

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

Palestine requests to join the ICC. Is this the start of a new era?

 

Palestinian President Abbas speaking with his nemesis and main source of income, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. 

     In a shocking turn of events, President Abbas has finally done something that may bring hope for peace in Palestine. President Abbas formally requested for Palestine to become a part of the International Criminal Court. This is a long overdue action, that must be applauded. For those unfamiliar, the ICC works out of The Hague in Switzerland and is responsible for prosecuting persons guilty of  genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and other related war crimes. This request comes after the continuing rejection of all Palestinian proposals including ending the ongoing construction of settlements happening on Palestinian territory. The ICC may give hope to all Palestinians looking to prosecute Israel for the blatant violation of international law and nonstop murder of Palestinian civilians.
        It will take a minimum of 60 days before the ICC responds to the application, although Palestine are expected to be admitted. The real question is whether the ICC will charge Israel for the obvious war crimes and atrocities that have taken place in recent time such as the summer 2014 Gaza attacks. Both Israel and the United States refuses to join the ICC, for fears of their civilians being prosecuted in any laws other than their own.  So far the ICC has only been effective in one area of the world, Africa. They have charged and arrested several African rebel leaders that have committed similar war crimes to the one that happened in Gaza. The massive death toll of 2,200 people, 80% of which were innocent civilians should do more than just raise a couple eyebrows, but rather be a call to action in ending the seemingly endless and extremely bloody conflict. A report by Amnesty International even labeled the Gaza attacks as war crimes. However, Israel have faced no jurisdiction for their inhumane actions but rather continued support from countries such as the United States. In addition, every Palestinian proposal for peace has been immediately shut down, for somehow "hindering the peace process". It has become obvious that there is no point in trying to settle an agreement with a nation that does not want anything to change, so Palestine must look to the ICC for help.
      It is important to note that this prosecution is a double edged sword. Although Palestine will be looking to charge Israel with war crimes, a full investigation will be under way and it may backfire and charge Hamas militants with aggressive actions. However, compared to the 2200 Palestinians killed and the thousands displaced and injured, 67 Israeli military members were killed. Although the killing is just as awful and must condemned, all those who died were members of the Israeli armed forces and knew what they signed up for. This is compared to the thousands of innocent children that were targeted and murdered by those same Israeli forces. The ICC does not have the ability to charge states, entities, or organizations but only persons. This will be a barrier to charging the entire Israeli government for their terrorist actions, but a persecution of any high ranking Israeli official would be a powerful statement against Israel. Israel has already condemned the request to join the ICC and has even gone as far as to freeze all Palestinian tax funds. They said that 127 million dollars collected for the Palestinian Authority will be held back to condemn them for finally acting out. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat did not take long to call out this action, calling it "a new war crime." This is not the first time Israel has done this unjust act, in April of last year they did the same thing because President Abbas applied to join several international conventions and treaties. Through this, it is clear Israel is trying to control Palestine both physically and mentally, and now fear possible punishment for their actions.
     Celebrations should not begin anytime soon, for it is a long time before any type of Israeli punishment would be put in place.  It will take 2 months alone before Palestine is admitted, and then another several months before a conclusive investigation will take place. However, this act of bravery by President Abbas is definitely a first and will hopefully continue in attempting to charge Israel externally, rather than continuing trying to reach peace. This may be the first step in ending the occupation and freeing Palestine.

Is the start of a movement against Israel and for Palestinian independence? Or is this just another public sham that will result in nothing but more Palestinian embarrassment? Only time will tell.