[Editor’s Note: The Palestine Chronicle is a supporter of the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Football Tournament, for it builds community ties in Gaza and brings a smile to many young faces. We urge our readers to help make this year’s tournament a great success. Please read the following statement by the organizers, help out as much as you can, and spread the word.]
Dear Friends,
Preparations are underway in Gaza for the 2013 Rachel Corrie Ramadan Football tournament. As our supporters may know, friends of Rachel in Rafah have held the tournament these past five years. The month-long, amateur tournament’s goal is to celebrate Ramadan by providing a festive tournament as a safe place for people to have fun. It is an act of resistance to occupation and siege; an event that builds community and honors Rachel.
This year the tournament features 352 players on 32 teams. Each team will take the names of towns and villages in historic Palestine destroyed by Israel in 1948. According to co-organizer Adnan Abu Al-Saud, the theme is “a point of convergence between Rachel Corrie as a human rights defender and Gaza refugee’s legacy of resisting injustice”.
Our project partner again this year in Gaza is Al Basma Club for the Disabled, whose all-deaf team edged higher in the standings last year, and will be back again to vie for the coveted first prize cup.
Our goal: $8,000 in the next two weeks. So far generous donors have donated over $3,500. But we can only succeed with your participation.
To support this great community Ramadan event, visit our Donation Page today. (Make sure to select “Ramadan Soccer Tournament” for your donation.)
Make checks out to “Rachel Corrie Foundation” and send to:
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice
203 East Fourth Ave., Suite 402
Olympia, WA
98501
Learn more by visiting the tournament website at: www.gazalife.org.
Thank you for your kind consideration and support.
John Harvey, Andrew Ford Lions
Tournament Coordination US/UK
Adnan Abu Al Sa’ud
Khaled Nasrallah
Tournament Coordination Rafah, Gaza
