The Palestinian delegation participating in the Paris Olympics confirmed yesterday that its participation will be a “platform” to denounce the war on Gaza, during a ceremony organized by the French Consulate General. “Representing Palestine in the Paris Olympics is a victory,” Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Farseen Aghabekian Shahin said during the ceremony, which was held in the city of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Olympic delegation includes more than twenty members, including eight male and female Olympic players and two Paralympic players, according to the Palestinian Olympic Committee.
The Palestinian sports delegation participates in individual athletics, swimming, taekwondo, judo, boxing and shooting. The majority of the participants live abroad and hold foreign nationalities in addition to the Palestinian ones. For his part, the head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Lieutenant General Jibril Rajoub, said, “We are determined to participate in these individual and group games, because we are convinced that sports are the most effective in convincing the world of our right to live freely in our homeland, Palestine, which includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.” Rajoub expressed his hope that “French President Emmanuel Macron will recognize the independent Palestinian state so that the Palestinians feel that they are not alone.” According to Rajoub, about 400 athletes and workers in the field have been killed during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip for more than nine months, out of 38,584 people killed during the same period.
