By Mousa Tawfiq: He went, said Sami al-Daour, from living the dream to negotiating a nightmare.
“My life turned upside down,” the 28-year-old soccer player said as he was walking around the facilities of his new club in Gaza.
A football pitch in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, bombed by Israeli Jews in the summer of 2014 and photographed in October 2014 -
Al-Daour, now a midfielder with al-Ahli in Gaza City, is playing the game he loves. But a budding professional career has run head first into Israel’s regime of restrictions on Palestinian movement and his progress in the game has stalled.
“In August 2014, I moved to the West Bank and played for Shabab al-Khalil in Hebron. But I didn’t have a full permit from the Israeli authorities to move freely between the West Bank cities and villages.”
Al-Daour had come to Hebron on a short-term medical permit, but after a couple of months he switched teams and signed to play for al-Samoor. The club obtained a full permit for him and he played there for 18 months, he said.
“Signing for al-Samoor was a turning point. I got a permit, a good salary and had a promising future ahead of me.”
Then in March, Israeli soldiers broke into his house in the center of Hebron.
“My life turned upside down,” the 28-year-old soccer player said as he was walking around the facilities of his new club in Gaza.
A football pitch in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, bombed by Israeli Jews in the summer of 2014 and photographed in October 2014 -
Al-Daour, now a midfielder with al-Ahli in Gaza City, is playing the game he loves. But a budding professional career has run head first into Israel’s regime of restrictions on Palestinian movement and his progress in the game has stalled.
“In August 2014, I moved to the West Bank and played for Shabab al-Khalil in Hebron. But I didn’t have a full permit from the Israeli authorities to move freely between the West Bank cities and villages.”
Al-Daour had come to Hebron on a short-term medical permit, but after a couple of months he switched teams and signed to play for al-Samoor. The club obtained a full permit for him and he played there for 18 months, he said.
“Signing for al-Samoor was a turning point. I got a permit, a good salary and had a promising future ahead of me.”
Then in March, Israeli soldiers broke into his house in the center of Hebron.