Sport, Palestine, and Israel

The sport dynamics in Palestine/Israel are characterized by an interesting paradox. Among both the Zionist and Palestinian national movements, institutional sport has historically emerged as a nationalist project aimed to bridge intra-national cultural/communal differences and to rehabilitate a collective self-image which suffered from humiliation and subjugation. In this chapter, the author follows the historical development which has led to this depoliticization and suggests a solution to the double-layered paradox. The political role of sport is most evident in the context where Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel do encounter each other regularly in the sport field, and therefore a more detailed analysis is dedicated to the ways sport has shaped and reflected the relations between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel. Finally, the author evaluates the possible contribution of sport for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation..