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Photo: Reuters
Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho in action
Photo: Reuters

Playing for peace with Ronaldinho

Israeli-Palestinian soccer team to play Tuesday evening against powerhouse Barcelona in game in which appeasement is more important than victory; event's organizer, Shimon Peres: Soccer – game with no boundaries

A team of Israeli and Palestinian soccer stars will join forces Tuesday evening to play against Spain's leading team Barcelona in the Camp Nuo stadium.

 

As expected, soccer was not at the center of attention among the event's participants, but rather appeasement.

 

In a rare agreement among the Israelis and Palestinians, the popular phrase Monday, from the moment the team departed Ben-Gurion Airport up to the dinner with Catalonia's prime minister, was "Soccer is only an excuse for promoting our joint goal – peace between the two people."

 

The Israeli delegation to the event is comprised of more than 200 people, including politicians, former soccer stars and coaches, as well as a group of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers taking part in the Peres Center for Peace-sponsored school project for soccer and peace, a project which brings together Israeli and Palestinian youths.

 

'Peace has a future'

 

Peres, who took a break from his deliberations on whether to stay in the Labor party or move to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new party Kadima, sat in a special press conference next to British actor Sean Connery.

 

"Football is a great contributor to the peace process," Peres said in the press conference, which was held in the impressive building of the Catalonian government, near Barcelona's Gothic quarter.

 

"I think all of us are coming here with one message, and that is peace has a future," he added.

Peres stressed that it is important to show people that it is possible to live together, adding that Soccer is an international language, without boundaries.

 

Connery said that "what we really need is to get back some of the optimism we had five years ago (in the Middle East peace process), and I'm sure there's going to be a change in the climate within a week."

 

He added that he is a supporter of Peres and of everything he does, and that football is the answer to violence.

 

'First of many other joint sporting ventures'

 

Israeli singer David Broza, one of the event's initiators, said in the press conference that he will sing during the match together with "Friends from east Jerusalem".

 

The event's organizers said that at least 12,000 fans are expected to attend the game. The prices of tickets for the match were very low, and a ticket could be bought for the sum of EURO 2.

 

The Barcelona squad is packed with outstanding players such as Brazil's Ronaldinho, crowned European Footballer of the Year in Paris on Monday night, Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o and Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi.

 

The "Peace Team" is jointly coached by newly-appointed Israel national team coach Dror Kashtan and Palestinian coach Jamal Hadeideh of Tulkarm.

 

Kashtan said in a statement that "I hope that this game is only the first of many other joint sporting ventures which will take place in the future."

 

"Watching out for Ronaldinho is almost as difficult as achieving peace, but we all know the real and important goal for which we are here. We all hope that this is just the kickoff for the final goal – peace," he added.

 

Eran Kaminsky and Reuters contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.29.05, 11:14
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