In Pictures

Gallery|Occupied West Bank

In Pictures: Paralympics in Palestine

Ongoing turmoil has stymied the growth of Paralympic sports in the West Bank, but organisers are working to change that.

Access to sports facilities continues to be a major challenge for disabled athletes in Palestine. Although the basketball court in Nablus is accessible, the equipment storeroom is down a flight of stairs behind an often locked gate.
By Rich Wiles
Published On 17 Oct 2014

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As the First Intifada petered out, tens of thousands of Palestinians bore its physical scars. Many suffered permanent disabilities, including spinal cord injuries – some caused after they were shot in the back or chest by Israeli soldiers. To address their needs, Paralympic sports began in Palestine more than two decades ago.

“Wheelchair basketball began in 1991 on a local level, and also table tennis,” Ehsan Idkaidek, secretary-general of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee (PPC), told Al Jazeera. “Then other sports followed, such as athletics. By 1993, we took a team to compete internationally for the first time, in Jordan, and later we competed in Iran, Lebanon and then in the UK in 1995.”

On September 28, 2000, Idkaidek joined the Palestinian team to travel to compete in Sydney: “We were on our way to Allenby Bridge [border crossing] when everything began to change.” That day marked the beginning of the Second Intifada. While in Sydney, the team secured Palestine’s first-ever Paralympics medal – a bronze in discus – but the Palestine they returned to one month later had changed immeasurably.

The Intifada brought competitive Paralympic sports to a halt in the West Bank, although some localised training continued whenever possible. Some level of competition continued in Gaza, where clubs were more centralised, but it took years for organisers to begin to rebuild a competitive network in the West Bank. Palestinian Paralympic teams, mostly comprised of Gaza-based athletes, ultimately participated in both the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games.

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“We have still not recovered in the West Bank,” Idkaidek said. “Things are growing again but it is slow. There is no political will among the decision makers to create real change for people with disabilities. There is no adapted public transport for us, access to buildings and shops is often impossible, and sports is certainly not seen as a priority.”

He believes it will take time to rebuild participation levels in the West Bank, but says the PPC has the will to do so. Already, events have started to be hosted again in sports such as wheelchair basketball and table tennis, albeit sporadically. “We are working hard, but the impact will be slow without wider support.”

Goalball players are classified according to medical guidelines that measure the severity of their visual impairment. During matches, black-out masks are worn to ensure visual equality among players.   
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Tha(***)er Daragmah has coached table tennis, basketball and athletics in his 22 years of working with disabled athletes in Palestine, but goalball holds a special place in his heart: (***)It(***)s the only sport designed especially for the blind. Without goalball, they would have no sporting opportunities at all.(***)
The development of goalball in Palestine has been one of the biggest recent achievements of the Paralympic Committee. The ball is fitted with internal bells so that sound rather than sight can be used to defend the goal, but as with any sport, perfecting skills takes practise.
Mohammad Issa Jaradat, right, poses for a photograph with his brother during his first goalball training session in Ramallah. (***)I can see some vague shapes from the side of my eyes without any details, but goalball is based on sound rather than sight, so I am really enjoying it.(***)
String is taped along the court(***)s lines in goalball so that players can feel the lines to position themselves on the court.
Ehsan Idkaidek, secretary-general of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee, believes rebuilding wider participation in Paralympic sports presents huge challenges when the rights of disabled people (***)are not considered a priority by decision-makers(***).
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Table tennis player Kamal Abdeen was shot through the neck by an Israeli settler during the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 and became paralysed from the waist down. He represented Palestine one year later at the Stoke Mandeville Games in Britain, the oldest competitive Paralympic sports event in the world. 
The recreation grounds alongside Ibn al-Haytham school host twice-weekly training sessions for Nablus(***) wheelchair basketball team.
Some Palestinians have become paraplegic after being shot in the back or chest by the Israeli army, leading to spinal cord damage. 
Mohammad Hanfawi, 28, from Nablus has been involved in Paralympic sports for many years: (***)I(***)ve spent my whole life in a wheelchair but I love sports. I play table tennis, compete in wheelchair marathons up to 10km, and in May, I represented Palestine in the West Asia Wheelchair Basketball tournament in Dubai.(***)
According to the Palestinian Paralympic Committee, when Israel attempted to prevent members of the Palestinian Paralympic team from travelling to the 2008 Games in Beijing, China threatened to ban the Israeli team from the games; Israel subsequently relented.
Muawiah Muna was paralysed from the waist down when shot during an Israeli army invasion of Nablus. Muna now coaches wheelchair basketball in Nablus and plays for the Palestinian national team: (***)Israel calls us [Palestinians] terrorists but we are not terrorists. We are people who want to live in peace, and we are people who love sports.(***)
Passions ran high during a basketball training session in Nablus after two players collided with their wheelchairs.
The growing need for Paralympic sports in Palestine is compounded by the ever-growing number of people suffering from permanent disabilities related to Israeli attacks, according to the PPC.