Members of the Palestinian national women's team expressed their pride at playing football in front of artwork featuring the Irish and Palestinian flags at Dalymount Park stadium in Dublin on Nakba Day.
“Walking through the pitch and seeing our flag here, it feels like home," said Palestinian-German player Nadine Mohamad, 20, before the team's match against local Irish football club the Bohemians Women.
"Ireland is a European country which supports us and I think will join Spain and Malta and Slovenia and recognise Palestine soon, so we are so excited about what's going to happen in the future.
"This is the most special moment we’ve ever had."
Mohamad, who travelled from Berlin where she plays for local club Turkiyemspor, said German authorities are restricting pro-Palestine and anti-war protests and trying to deny what is happening in Gaza.
“When you see a kid who's five years old looking for his mom or dad who's buried under the rubble of their house, how do you ignore it?” she asked.
Jihad, one of the Palestinians organising the trip, said the match at Dalymount Park was about reminding the world that Palestinians do not want to die in Gaza.
“They have hopes and dreams too,” he said. “We want people to see Palestinians playing football – not just dying in war.”
George Dabit travelled to Dublin from Canada to support his granddaughter, Charlotte Phillips, who plays in the goal for the Palestinian national team.
Born in Jaffa in 1945, Mr Dabit and his family were forced to flee their home during the 1948 Nakba, or "catastrophe", after the formation of Israel .
His family lived in Jordan before returning to East Jerusalem where he met Phillips’s grandmother, Odette.
“It’s only in the last two and half years that I’ve been able to talk about what happened to my family during the Nakba,” Mrs Dabit said.
Her family had planned to flee from their home in the city of Ramla in 1948 but after her eldest brother Zachary, who was 18, died from a gunshot wound inflicted by a Jewish militia her mother refused to leave.
“She said 'over my dead body are we leaving the land where my son is buried',” Mrs Dabit said.
Just a few years later in 1956, Mrs Dabit saw her father, who was a Catholic Palestinian, being killed in an axe attack after he refused to sell his popular restaurant in Ramla to a group of Jewish Iraqis who had moved into the neighbourhood.
“He died on my sister’s knee,” she recalls emotionally.
Various members of Mrs Dabit's family emigrated to Canada before she and husband George decided to emigrate too, in 1968.
The couple had been living in Beit Hanina, a neighbourhood near Jerusalem which was occupied by Israel after the 1967 war.
“Canada gave us a country and a flag and treated us like everyone else,” Mrs Dabit said.
“I didn’t want my kids to know about politics. I wanted to give them a fresh start, but I can’t deny who I am.”
The Dabits are proud to see their granddaughter play for Palestine.
“Charlotte’s so passionate about playing with the team,” Mrs Dabit said.
But she worries whether playing for a Palestinian team could hurt her granddaughter’s future, with the current climate on university campuses and in workplaces.
Speaking before Wednesday night's match, Phillips said that she was excited to represent Palestine in front of her family and that the players are always trying to do their best.
“It’s very competitive, no one wants to be replaced,” she said.
The friendly game marks the first time the Palestinian women’s team has played a match in Europe and coincides with the annual Nakba Day.
Bohemian defender Abbie O’Hara said the Irish team had been looking forward to the match since they heard it had been organised with the Palestinian Football Association this year.
“We’re all just really excited to play,” said O’Hara.
The Bohemian Football Club has previously raised funds for sports programmes for Palestinian children living in the Tulkarm camp in the occupied West Bank.
Proceeds from this match will support the cost of the team travelling to Ireland, as well as the work of charitable organisations including Palestine Sport for Life, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Aclaí Palestine.
Palestinian players facing the Bohemian women’s team in the sold-out match travelled this week from the West Bank through Jordan, and from Israel, Lebanon, Germany, Sweden, the US and Canada.
Bisan Abuaita, 26, who normally plays right-wing for the Palestinian team, travelled from Bethlehem.
Abuaita said the team has never had players from Gaza, as even before the war began it was too difficult for them to travel for matches because of the total blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.
The team last played in Jeddah in a friendly game against the Saudi Arabian women’s team in May 2023.
Before the match, a delegation from the Palestinian team was hosted at Aras an Uachtarain on Tuesday by Irish President Michael Higgins, and at the Mansion House by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithi de Roiste.
Mr Higgins and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald attended the football match on Wednesday evening.
A Palestinian flag was placed on every seat in the ground and shortly before kick-off, a mural of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza, was unveiled outside the ground.
Fans who were not able to buy a ticket were encouraged to purchase a stream of the game or a non-attendance ticket, or to make a donation online.
The Palestinian team scored a last-minute goal, taking them to a 2-1 win against The Bohemians.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Super Saturday results
4pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 | US$350,000 | (Dirt) | 1,200m
Winner: Drafted, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
4.35pm: Al Bastakiya Listed | $300,000 | (D) | 1,900m
Winner: Divine Image, Brett Doyle, Charlie Appleby.
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 | $350,000 | (Turf) | 1,200m
Winner: Blue Point, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 | $350,000 | (D) | 1,600m
Winner: Muntazah, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.
6.20pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 | $300,000 | (T) | 2,410m
Winner: Old Persian, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 Group 1 | $600,000 | (D) | 2,000m
Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
7.30pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 | $400,000 | (T) | 1,800m
Winner: Dream Castle, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor.
More coverage from the Future Forum
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
A cryptocurrency primer for beginners
Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies – by Kiana Danial
There are several primers for investing in cryptocurrencies available online, including e-books written by people whose credentials fall apart on the second page of your preferred search engine.
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Although cryptocurrencies are a fast evolving world, this book offers a good insight into the game as well as providing some basic tips, strategies and warning signs.
Begin your cryptocurrency journey here.
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20flag%20was%20first%20unveiled%20on%20December%202%2C%201971%2C%20the%20day%20the%20UAE%20was%20formed.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIt%20was%20designed%20by%20Abdullah%20Mohammed%20Al%20Maainah%2C%2019%2C%20an%20Emirati%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMr%20Al%20Maainah%20said%20in%20an%20interview%20with%20%3Cem%3EThe%20National%3C%2Fem%3E%20in%202011%20he%20chose%20the%20colours%20for%20local%20reasons.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20black%20represents%20the%20oil%20riches%20that%20transformed%20the%20UAE%2C%20green%20stands%20for%20fertility%20and%20the%20red%20and%20white%20colours%20were%20drawn%20from%20those%20found%20in%20existing%20emirate%20flags.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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