Supporters and fans cheer for Palestinian athletes like Valerie Tarazi, second right, at the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Roissy, north of Paris, France. (AP
Photo/Megan Janetsky)
PARIS (AP) — Palestinian Olympic athletes were greeted with a roar of a crowd and gifts of food and roses as they arrived in Paris on Thursday, ready to represent war–torn Gaza and the rest of the territories on a global stage.
As the beaming athletes walked through a sea of Palestinian flags at the main Paris airport, they said they hoped their presence would serve as a symbol amid the Israel-Hamas war that has claimed more than 39,000 Palestinian lives.
Athletes, French supporters and politicians in the crowd urged the European nation to recognize a Palestinian state, while others expressed outrage at Israel’s presence at the Games after U.N.-backed human rights experts said Israeli authorities were responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The same report said Palestinian militants committed war crimes during the first months of the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas launched deadly attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. Israel has rejected the allegations from the independent experts.
“France doesn’t recognize Palestine as a country, so I am here to raise the flag,” said Yazan Al-Bawwab, a 24-year-old Palestinian swimmer born in Saudi Arabia. “We’re not treated like human beings, so when we come play sports, people realize we are equal to them.”“We’re 50 million people without a country,” he added.
Al-Bawwab, one of eight Palestinian Olympic athletes, signed autographs for supporters and plucked dates from a plate offered by a child in the crowd.
“I’m here to show them they’re not alone, they’re supported,” Bechrouri said. Them being here “shows that the Palestinian people will continue to exist, that they won’t be erased. It also means that despite the dire situation, they’re staying resilient. They’re still a part of the world and are here to stay.”
READ: Olympic icon Felix making presence felt at Paris Games
Palestinian ambassador to France Hala Abou called for France to formally recognize a Palestinian state and for a boycott of the Israeli Olympic delegation. Abou has previously said she has lost 60 relatives in the war.
“It’s welcome that comes as no surprise to the French people, who support justice, support the Palestinian people, support their inalienable right to self-determination,” she said.
That call for recognition comes just a day after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a scathing speech to Congress during a visit to Washington, which was met with protests. He declared he would achieve “total victory” against Hamas and called those protesting the war on college campuses and elsewhere in the U.S. “useful idiots” for Iran.
The AP has made multiple attempts to speak with Israeli athletes without success.
Even under the best of circumstances, it is difficult to maintain a vibrant Olympics training program in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. That’s become next to impossible in nine months of war between Israel and Hamas as much of the country’s sporting infrastructure have been devastated.
“You can either crumble under pressure or use it as energy,” she said. “I chose to use it as energy.”