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<h1><font size=4><b>Alive and victorious: Palestinian footballer Mahmoud
Sarsak home after epic 3 month hunger
strike</b></font></h1><font size=3>Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Tue,
07/10/2012 - 12:43<br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/alive-and-victorious-palestinian-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-home-after-epic-3" eudora="autourl">
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/alive-and-victorious-palestinian-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-home-after-epic-3</a>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><font size=3>Palestinian footballer
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-sarsak">Mahmoud
Sarsak</a> was greeted joyously in Gaza today as he returned home from
the Israeli prison where he was held for three years without charge or
trial and without visits from his family.<br><br>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/mahmoud-sarsak-palestinian-soccer-player_n_1661312.html?utm_hp_ref=world">
According to AP</a>, Sarsak was taken to hospital in Gaza where, “he
emerged from an ambulance and kissed his parents and siblings.”<br><br>
Sarsak staged an epic three month hunger strike that brought him to the
edge of death, which he ended last month after
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-free-footballer-mahmoud-sarsak-after-epic-3-month-hunger-strike-lawyer">
Israel met his demands and agreed to free</a> him on this date.<br><br>
Sarsak, a member of the Palestinian national football team, garnered
worldwide support, including from international players’ association
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/world-association-professional-footballers-fifpro-calls-israel-release-mahmoud">
FIFPro</a>,
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/cantona-fifa-join-pressure-israel-hunger-striker-mahmoud-sarsak-determined-reach">
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter</a>, and
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/name-sporting-solidarity-top-european-athletes-call-israel-release-mahmoud-sarsak">
numerous world-renowned football players and athletes</a>.<br><br>
</font><h2><b>“Alive and victorious” – but other hunger strikers
remain</b></h2><font size=3>Seventy-eight days into his hunger strike,
Sarsak published a poignant
“<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/dont-wait-until-were-body-bags-two-palestinian-hunger-strikers-final-distress">
final distress call</a>” along with fellow prisoner
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/akram-rikhawi">Akram
Rikhawi</a>. In an unforgettable sentence that spurred global action on
the prisoners’ behalf, the men wrote:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>there is still enough time and the support that comes late is better
than that which does not come at all. It is better that you receive us
alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black
bags.<br><br>
</b>
</dl>Today, Mahmoud Sarsak returned home alive and victorious to the
joyous embrace of his mother. But Akram Rikhawi remains in Israeli jail
in increasingly desperate conditions, along with at least two other
hunger strikers.<br><br>
Mahmoud Sarsak’s victory and return is a joyful and amazing achievement
that deserves to be celebrated. But even as Sarsak’s release is
celebrated, Rikhawi remains at risk of death. <br><br>
<br><br>
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