Israeli Arabs earn victory on football pitch

IT WAS a scene that forced even the most experienced Middle East observer to do a double take.

Even as Israeli forces were carrying out their biggest operation in the Gaza Strip for years, television images showed Palestinians waving the blue and white flag with pride in front of a cheering crowd of tens of thousands.

The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, were briefly united in their praise as, for the first time in Israeli football history, an Arab-owned team had become champions.

Bnei Sakhnin, a mixed Jewish-Arab team with the lowest budget in Israel’s 12-team top league, scored a decisive 4-1 win over Hapoel Haifa in the final of Israel’s State Cup.

The win, which makes the team Israel’s UEFA Cup entrant next year, sent tens of thousands of delirious fans into the streets in Arab parts of Israel and Palestinian Authority areas.

"This is what’s called the new Middle East and this shows the Arabs are here and they are an integral part of Israeli society," the Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted the Bnei Sakhnin chairman, Mazen Ghnaim, as saying.

"This victory is like a new start, a new era for Israeli Arabs," said Sakhnin’s captain, Abbas Suan.

Mr Arafat phoned to congratulate the team from his besieged West Bank headquarters.

His bitter enemy, Mr Sharon, promised help to rebuild the town stadium. "I am sure you will represent Israel with honour in Europe," he said in a statement.

With 12 Israeli Arab players, seven Israeli Jews and four foreigners, Bnei Sakhnin boasted it was one of the few places in Israel where Arab-Jewish coexistence was possible.

In the State Cup game, a Jewish player, Lior Asulin, led the team with two goals, while the Arab captain, Abbas Sawan, was the first to lift the trophy to roars of approval from some 30,000 fans.

One supporter of the defeated Hapoel Haifa team, Uri Hoenig, 24, was reported to have said: "I’m happy we lost to an Arab team. I hope it will improve our society."

For Sakhnin, a community of 25,000, the victory offered a rare chance to forget a bitter local history. In 1976, two residents were killed by Israeli security forces while protesting land confiscation, and in 2000 police shot and killed three local people at the start of the current Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israeli Arabs make up about 20 per cent of Israel’s population and have full Israeli citizenship but have long suffered economic and political discrimination and generally live apart from Jews.

Sammy Smooha, a Haifa University expert on Israeli Arabs, said the victory had raised the community’s morale by making it feel more integrated into Israeli society.

"What happened [in the game] allows them to feel closeness. They want to feel this closeness - it tells them they are part of the country," he said.

But he cautioned that hopes that Israeli Arabs would now be integrated into Israeli society were exaggerated. "I don’t see that. This is not a turning point."

Lutfy Mashour, editor of the Arabic-language As Seenara weekly newspaper, said he doubted the victory would have long-term significance for the standing of Arabs in Israel.

"I don’t think this will influence the macro-situation," Mr Mashour said. "It won’t open doors or close gaps. After all, this is only soccer."