Sunday, January 7, 2007
Ah, the Arab World...building bridges to peace one ostracized athlete after another:
Bahraini runner Mushir Salem Jawher competed and won the Tiberias Marathon in Israel on Thursday, ending the race in just over 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Most Arab states do not recognize Israel, and the Jerusalem Post newspaper said Jawher was the first athlete from an Arab country to compete in an Israeli marathon. Jawher was born in Kenya in 1978 and moved to Bahrain in 2003, according to the International Association of Athletics Federation.
The Jerusalem Post cited Jawher as saying he was "very proud" to have run in Israel. Even though Bahrain has no official ties with the Jewish state, "It is a free country," the athlete was quoted as saying.
Bahrain's Athletic Union said in a statement Saturday that it had received the news that a Bahraini national competed in Israel with "shock and regret."
"The union deeply regrets what the athlete has done," the statement said. A comity of sport and government authorities decided to strike Jawher's name off the sport union records and strip off his Bahraini nationality, the statement said...
I say let the guy stay. Say, since Bahrain cares so much for the Palestinian Arabs, I'd be curious to know how many of them Bahrain has resettled and granted citizenship to. I'm sure they've got the space.
I say let the guy stay.
Absolutely! At least give him residency! He seems like a friendly guy and I'd imagine a 2:11 marathon would qualify him for Israel's Olympic team. He'd certainly have a better shot there than back in Kenya.