Israel/palestine and Ireland

[davey]

I know the ireland-israel match is old news now, but apparently a woman ran onto the pitch at half-time with a palestinian flag. I also thought the protest march to the Israeli embassy was stupidly (deliberately) timed, they could have gone any day before or since. I also read that Israeli tourists felt they were made to feel unwelcome, in contrast to the huge spread put on by the Israeli tourist board for the match in Tel-Aviv.

My point is that sport, like the arts has the potential to build bridges between peoples: For example, in South Africa, a shared love of cricket and soccer (then affected by the international boycott) was instrumental in creating common ground between the parties in the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid. People who got their politics and sport in a twist on June the 4th should check out the following article:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShAr ... mNo=587806

(if you know of any articles from the arab press, please let me know)

Before any one asks, I support the two-state solution. Frank Aiken once told the Indian ambassador that it was a mistake to set up a Jewish state in Palestine, but it was there now and it is only common sense to accept it. That is my view, I am not a zionist sympathiser!

See what you all think of the article, i may not get the chance to get back to the forum until tomorrow...

[MacCoise]

boring, poorly-written article