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Palestinian Athletes Told to Take 'Resistance' to the Olympics

Valerie Tarazi will compete in the swimming for the Palestine delegation at the Paris Olympics - AFP
Valerie Tarazi will compete in the swimming for the Palestine delegation at the Paris Olympics - AFP
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Palestinian Athletes Told to Take 'Resistance' to the Olympics

Valerie Tarazi will compete in the swimming for the Palestine delegation at the Paris Olympics - AFP
Valerie Tarazi will compete in the swimming for the Palestine delegation at the Paris Olympics - AFP

Eight Palestinian athletes taking part in the Paris Olympics will be symbols of "resistance" during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a Palestinian minister said Sunday as the official delegation left the occupied West Bank.

This will be the eighth time Palestinian athletes have taken part in the Olympics since 1996, but Olympic committee head Jibril Rajoub said the athletes had never felt so much attention.

The athletes are preparing for the start of the Paris Games on July 26 in a "very dark moment in our history", said Palestinian authority minister of state for foreign affairs Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, AFP reported.

"You are not just athletes, you are also ... symbols of Palestinian resistance," Aghabekian added.

French organizers have stepped up security in Paris because of the conflict. But Rajoub said: "We want this participation to be a message from the Palestinians to the world that it is time for them to be free in their homeland."

"Through this participation, we want to present the suffering of the Palestinian people and the unprecedented killing taking place in Gaza," he added.

Rajoub said 400 athletes, coaches and sporting officials in Gaza have been killed or wounded since the start of the war on October 7.

Majed Abu Marahil, a long distance runner who was the first Palestinian to compete in an Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, died in June. According to officials, he suffered kidney failure and could not get treatment as Gaza's hospitals have been devastated by the conflict.

Rajoub said getting athletes to Paris "is already a victory".

The eight will compete in athletics, swimming, archery, taekwondo, judo and boxing. One secured a place through regular qualifying and seven were given special invitations.

Swimmer Valerie Tarazi, 24, has US and Palestinian nationality and won titles at the Arab Games last year in Algeria.

"My heart aches for them," she said of the Gaza people. Tarazi said she has relatives in Gaza and speaks with them nearly every day.

"Being in Paris on behalf of Palestine is a very important thing, and taking part in a global swimming competition at a time when there are no places to train is surreal," she said.

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How Much Has US-built Gaza Aid Pier Helped Get Aid into Gaza?

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Gaza coast, May 19, 2024. US Army Central/Handout via REUTERS
A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Gaza coast, May 19, 2024. US Army Central/Handout via REUTERS
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How Much Has US-built Gaza Aid Pier Helped Get Aid into Gaza?

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Gaza coast, May 19, 2024. US Army Central/Handout via REUTERS
A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Gaza coast, May 19, 2024. US Army Central/Handout via REUTERS

A US-built pier designed to increase flows of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip has been beset by challenges and is now expected to be permanently dismantled.
US officials have said they will attempt to reinstall the pier to clear a backlog of Gaza-bound aid in Cyprus, and that it is then likely to be permanently dismantled.
Aid workers and others have long questioned the project, saying delivering aid by land is the only effective way to get supplies at scale into Gaza, where Israeli forces are fighting a war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Here are some details on the pier.
WHY WAS THE PIER BUILT?
US President Joe Biden announced a plan to put the pier in place in March, following warnings that famine could spread across Gaza and increasing difficulties sending aid through land crossings, most of which were kept shut by Israel for months.
Biden made the announcement as he sought to cool anger among many in his Democratic Party over support for Israel during its offensive in Gaza, given the heavy toll on civilians.
During the war - which began after Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on Oct. 7 last year, triggering Israel's military retaliation - humanitarian conditions have deteriorated rapidly for Gaza's 2.3 million residents. Almost all its residents have been displaced within the coastal enclave, many of them multiple times.
HOW IS THE PIER OPERATED?
The about 1,200-foot-long (370-meter-long) floating pier is located offshore a little north of the Wadi Gaza coastal wetland. Construction of the pier, which was partially pre-assembled in the Israeli port of Ashdod, started in April. Aid first began arriving on May 17.
Food and other aid supplies have been transported to the pier from Cyprus, which spearheaded efforts to open a sea route for humanitarian assistance.
Supplies have been X-rayed in Cyprus in the presence of Israeli officials, who have closely monitored aid entering Gaza, saying it could benefit Hamas.
Aid has then been transported to the pier by ship before being loaded onto trucks to be driven onto the coast.
The operation is complex, involving about 1,000 US military personnel, some stationed on the pier. The Pentagon estimated that the first 90 days of operation would cost about $230 million.
WHAT PROBLEMS HAS THE PIER FACED?
The pier has been temporarily removed several times because of rough seas. On one occasion it was towed to the southern Israeli port city of Ashdod for repairs after a section broke off.
Shipments have also been held up by delays in distributing supplies into Gaza, a process that is fraught with risk and requires Israeli approvals.
When considering whether to bring back the pier after bad weather in late June, US officials said there would be little point in doing so immediately because the marshaling area next to the pier was nearly full.
As has been the case with aid delivered on other routes, supplies coming off the pier have sometimes been seized by desperate Gazans or subject to more organized looting.
The UN World Food Program, tasked with overseeing distribution of aid from the pier, paused operations in June because of security concerns.
Some aid workers expressed concern that a pier operated by the US military could put humanitarian staff and operations at risk because locals might question their neutrality or see them as undercover agents.
In June, the Pentagon sought to dispel what it said were false social media reports that Israel used a floating US pier off Gaza in a hostage rescue mission.
HOW MUCH AID HAS BEEN DELIVERED
As of June 25, almost 7,000 metric tons of assistance had arrived in Gaza via Cyprus, US aid officials said, roughly the equivalent of 350 aid trucks.
Aid officials say about 600 trucks of humanitarian and commercial supplies are needed in Gaza daily to meet the needs of the population.
Before Israel expanded its military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah in early May, most aid had been arriving in Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, or through the nearby Israeli-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom. In April, an average of 189 trucks entered daily through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, according to UN data.
WHAT'S THE PIER'S FUTURE?
The pier was authorized to remain in operation up to July 31. A senior US official had said in June that it could be extended by at least another month.
Pentagon officials have cautioned that the sea could become too rough for the pier after the summer.