Issam Khalidi
Talking about history of Palestine
sports, one has to mention the name of this inimitable personal who dedicated a large part
of his life for the progress and growth of sports in Palestine. Born in 1908,
Habbab, attended schools in Jaffa. After his graduation he taught in different
schools in Jaffa, Ramla and Beersabi’ (1928 – 1935). In 1926, he joined and
played football for the Islamic Sport Club in Jaffa (established 1926). In 1927, he participated in
creating scouts teams in Jaffa. In 1936, he took part in founding the National
Guards in Jaffa.
Sport in
Palestine was not isolated from political conditions in Palestine. Since the
1920’s, the Jews sought to use sports to achieve their dreams in Palestine.
They dominated the so-called ‘Palestine Football Association’ after its
affiliation with the International Football Association FIFA in 1929. This
prompted the Palestinians to established Palestine Sports Federation PSF in
1931. Because of the consequences resulted from the 1936 Revolt, its activities were suspended in 1938-1939. However, in 1944, Habbab and
his colleagues leaders of the sports movements in Palestine called for
re-establishing PSF. The period 1944-1948 was the golden era in the
history of sports before 1948. The sports movement witnessed a remarkable
leap. PSF found regional and branch committees; it organized tournaments and
competitions for all sports such as football, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting,
track and field and table tennis. Beside the organizational characteristic, sports movement distinguished with social and national-ideological traits.
Abd
al-Rahman al-Habbab was the secretary of the PSF, at the same time he was a
member the Jaffa regional committee; he was also a member of the track and
field committee. A former football player with the Islamic Club of Jaffa,
Habbab continued his efforts to lead this club which achieved positive results
in the fields of football and boxing.
Habbab and his colleagues sought to affiliate PSF with FIFA. The main obstacle it faced was the Zionist-dominated PFA which
represented Palestine in this international association. In 1946, PSF submitted
its application to FIFA. Al-Habbab, was supposed to attend a meeting for FIFA
in Luxemburg on August 27, 1946. He was planning to discuss and explain the
Palestinian point of view regarding the application of the PSF in FIFA.
Unfortunately, FIFA rejected his attendance for unknown reasons.[i]
It was very clear that FIFA was dominated by colonial members who supported the Zionist case. Also, the
Arab countries suffered the lack of influence; they were unable to put pressures on FIFA in order to accept the application of PSF.
However,
Abd Arrahman al-Habbab decided to travel to Egypt in July 1946, where he met
with the Chief of the Arab League and Haidar Pasha, the head of the Egyptian
Football Association (EFA). Both expressed their sympathy with the PSF
and denounced FIFA’s rejection for not allowing the Palestinian secretary to
attend its meeting. After consulting with the council of the Arab League,
they decided to send a telegram to FIFA asking for the registration of the PSF.
This telegram was followed with a detailed letter by al-Habbab explaining the
stance of the Arab football associations toward the PSF. It stated that
those associations were planning to form a United Arab Association, and that
said Arab associations are in full support of the Arab teams in Palestine. [ii]
In August, Mr. Habbab
received a letter from the secretary of FIFA informing him that, in accordance
with the request of the Egyptian and Lebanese football associations, FIFA
discussed the issue of registering the PSF in FIFA. FIFA decided to form
a special committee for reviewing this application from all aspects, so the
committee could best decide its recommendation. The PSF offered its
gratitude to the Egyptian FA and the Lebanese FA for their efforts.[iii] Unfortunately, things went in another direction when, in just few days, FIFA
decided to reject this application. However, this did not stop the desire of
Habbab and his colleagues. In 1951 they submitted another application to FIFA
and got negative response with the same excuses. In the same year, the functions and authorities of al-Habbab who was PSF's General Secretary have been transformed to Ahmad Z. Afifi.
Later, Al-Habbab
became the secretary of the Jordanian Football Association, and the secretary
of the Jordanian Olympic Committee. He was the head of the Jordanian delegation
to Pan Arab Games in 1957 and 1961.
Habbab died in
Amman in 1995, leaving behind tens of achievements and successes.
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