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August 16, 2002/Elul 8 5762, Vol. 54, No. 48
Sport can transcendEditorialThirty years ago, Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli Olympic athletes at the Munich games. This year, a memorial service was held Aug. 11 at the same venue, during the European athletics championship.At the ceremony, a crowd convened at the bridge linking the Olympic stadium to the former Olympic village. It was a fitting image. Sports at its best links competitors in friendship. When Israeli Alex Averbukh was awarded a medal in the pole-vault competition at the championship games, athletes and spectators alike heard "Hatikvah," the Israeli anthem, fill Munich Olympic stadium. Unfortunately, Israel has been declared off limits for similar international athletic competition and celebration these days. European soccer and basketball teams refuse to visit Israel, citing security concerns. How ironic. Just 30 years ago, it was European security that failed miserably, draping a black cloak over the games. Refreshingly, in another arena, two men, undaunted by fear or intimidation, have reached across the geo-political divide to compete as a team. Tennis players Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi, a Pakistani, and Amir Hadad, an Israeli, recently made it to the third round of the Wimbledon tennis championships. They plan to compete in the U.S. Open later this month. Pakistani officials have condemned the partnership and issued warnings. Khawaja Saeed Hai, senior vice president of Pakistan Tennis Federation, remarked, "(Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi) should not repeat the act in the U.S. Open. ... Israel is a very contentious issue. It is not just about playing tennis." Hadad's response? "We are good friends, and I think we're going to keep playing together in the future." Using sports competition as a means to link strangers is the foundation of the basketball camp Seeds of Peace, in Otisfield, Maine. There, teen athletes - Israeli and Palestinian, Jew and Muslim - play, talk and sleep side-by-side. The hope is that they become teammates instead of adversaries, explains Arn Tellem, the camp's benefactor. Here in the Valley, at the new Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, structured leagues could offer local Jews and Muslims the opportunity to play basketball and baseball together. Perhaps through healthy competition, each could learn to see the humanity behind the face of the stranger. In the process, two peoples separated by fears and frustrations could become like Qureshi and Hadad - friends. Sports at its best could show the way. |
