#Majed Abu Maraheel

[soon-palestine]

[taviamoth]

The reason that Russia is banned but israel is given protection is very simple: one is killing white people and one is killing brown people. The International Olympics Committee is a white supremacist organization, and so only considers the former worth a reaction.

[vicholas]

I want more people to know that while the Palestine Olympic team consists of only 8 athletes, at least 69 Palestinian Olympic athletes have been killed since October 2023. This includes athletes who were going to compete in these games and retired athletes such as Majed Abu Maraheel, the first Palestinian Olympian, who died of kidney failure in a refugee camp product of lack of medical treatment.

Remember them during these games.

[good-old-gossip]

The first Palestinian athlete to participate in the Olympic games died on Wednesday at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza as a result of kidney failure due to power outages and medical shortages as a result of the ongoing Israeli war and siege of the enclave.

Majed Abu Maraheel, who passed away at the age of 61, became the first athlete to be the flag bearer and represent Palestinians at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Being a distance runner, he competed in the 10km race.

Since his breakthrough on the world stage, more than 20 Palestinian men and women have been able to compete at Olympic competitions.

"He was a Palestinian icon, and he will remain as such," his brother told Paltoday TV after the funeral.

"We tried to evacuate him to Egypt but then the Rafah crossing was closed (by Israel), and his condition kept deteriorating."

In his preparation for the Olympics, Abu Maraheel would often be seen on his daily runs from his home in Gaza to the Erez Crossing with Israel, which Israel closed in October after imposing a full blockade on the Strip.

Last month, it was reopened for the first time since then.

He would often have to pass through that crossing for his job as a day labourer in Israel. After participating in the Olympics, Abu Maraheel went on to become a coach for other Palestinian runners hoping to replicate his presence at the international competition.

Abu Maraheel's death highlights the grim fate of many Palestinians who are facing kidney failure in Gaza.

A report from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in March found that there were between 1,000 to 1,500 patients in Gaza with kidney failure, and that they are facing a "slow death" because of "a lack of medical and therapeutic services, medications and other necessities".

Israel denies blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, though aid agencies say they are not able to get aid in because of Israeli restrictions.

[yessoupy]

Majed Abu Maraheel was Palestine's first flag bearer, in Atlanta ‘96. Abu Maraheel was killed in Gaza last month.

Due to the IDF's policy of destroying hospital infrastructure, Abu Maraheel was unable to get the care he needed and died of kidney failure.

You won't see Russian or Belorussian athletes at this Olympics (or, only very few) because the IOC banned them for their invasion of another IOC nation. You will, however, see Israeli athletes (even one who bragged of writing messages on bombs headed to Gaza), despite their ongoing war against another IOC nation, Palestine. Why the double standard?

In Paris at my ticketed events, I will wear a keffiyeh in the Fan Section. The IOC is stringently non-political, but this is allowed because it's a national symbol of a nation that is competing at the Olympics.

[sscarletvenus]

Long-distance runner and athletics coach Majed Abu Maraheel was the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympics and was the flag bearer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He has passed away due to lack of access to medical treatment caused by the ongoing israeli-imposed siege on Gaza.

Paris Olympics are in a month from now and yet, the apartheid entity will be allowed to compete because the International Olympics Committee willfully ignores the entity's crimes in Gaza and against their fellow athletes.

[a-person-on-earth]

Dave Zirin on X: "The first Palestinian to ever compete at the Olympics (1996), long distance runner Majed Abu Maraheel has been killed by the Israeli blockade of Gaza, unable to receive medical treatment for kidney failure. We should all look forward to this story being covered on @SportsCenter" / X

[kain-nine]

Majed abu maraheel

[vicholas]

(...)Even under the best of circumstances, it is difficult to maintain a vibrant Olympics training program in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Nine months of war between Israel and Hamas has made that challenge next to impossible.

Much of the country’s sporting infrastructure, clubs and institutions have been demolished, said Nader Jayousi, the technical director at the Palestine Olympic Committee.

“Do you know how many approved pools there are in Palestine? Zero,” said al Bawaab, who noted that the Palestinian economy is too small and fragile to consistently support the development of elite athletes. “There is no sports in Palestine. We are a country right now that does not have enough food or shelter, and we are trying to figure out how to stay alive. We are not a sports country yet.”

The Palestinian diaspora has always played an important role at the Olympics and other international competitions, Jayousi said.

Jayousi said it’s not the first time that most of the athletes representing the POC come from abroad. He said the Palestinian diaspora is always represented at any big international sporting competition and Olympics.

More than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began, according to local health officials. Among those who died were about 300 athletes, referees, coaches and others working in Gaza’s sports sector, according to Jayousi.

Perhaps the most prominent Palestinian athlete to die in the war was long-distance runner Majed Abu Maraheel, who in 1996 in Atlanta became the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympics. He died of kidney failure earlier this year after he was unable to be treated in Gaza and could not be evacuated to Egypt, Palestinian officials said.

Only one Palestinian athlete, Ismail, qualified for the Paris Games in his own right. The seven others gained their spots under a wild-card system delivered as part of the universality quota places.. Backed by the International Olympic Committee, it allows athletes who represent poorer nations with less-established sports programs to compete, even though they did not meet the sporting criteria.

“We had very high hopes that we would go to Paris 2024 with qualified athletes,” Jayousi, the team’s technical director, said. “We lost lots of these chances because of the complete stoppage of every single activity in the country.”

Palestinian athletes will compete in boxing, judo, swimming, shooting, track and field and taekwondo.(...)