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Feature20had been covering the Arab communityfor many years, irresistible. Thiswas an emotionally-charged joint ventureof Jews and Arabs – not somethingcommercial, tucked away in the unreadsections of the press. Emblazoned in allthe media - national and international -Jewish and Arab Israelis were cheeringtogether, aspiring for the same ‘goals’.It reached a crescendo with the Israelversus Ireland match when Sakhnins’captain, Abbas, scored a life-saving goalin the twilight moment of the game.That one kick transformed him into anational hero. The sight of thousandsof cheering Arabs waving Israeli flags,made even cynical political observers ofthe Middle East do a double take.Could a game of football achieve whatIsraeli politicians had failed to deliver– a truly integrated society? Did you seefootball as a metaphor for a no less seriousgame in play?Certainly. As one of the players expressedto me in football parlance:“We want to be in the centre of thenational pitch, no longer shunted beyondthe touch lines as we have alwaysbeen.”He was saying essentially that theArab community, which is not going toabandon its history, their people or theiraffiliations with fellow Palestinians andArabs elsewhere, accepts that they areIsraeli. They are not out to unravel whathappened in 1948. All they demand isthat they be accepted as equal citizens.Their demand is simple - that everyonecheering in the stands enjoys fullequality, equal opportunity and legitimacyafter they leave the stands. Thiswas the challenge thrown down by BneiSakhnin and it was made on a differentturf – through soccer not politics.The challenge is hardly new. How was itreceived?This time it came from a positionof confidence, emboldened by success.“After all, we won the Israel Cup. We arethe champions. You cannot any longershunt us aside. We are an integral partin the fabric of this society. Accept usas equals, as Arab Israelis.” There wasnone of the aggression and abrasivenessthat Jewish Israelis identify withArab politicians or fiery Imams whoare locked into the narrative of havinglost the ‘1948 game’ and demandinga replay. These were ordinary ArabIsraelis, who recognize they are living ina Jewish State, but want to be acceptedas a legitimate minority with full rightsand opportunities.The ‘Sakhnin challenge’ was not onlya challenge to Jewish Israelis but alsoto the rest of Arab Israelis, particularlythe political establishment of the Arabcommunity as well as saying to the Araband Jewish worlds: “Listen, we cannotbe ignored. We are 20% of this societyand we want to be accepted.”How is this challenge resonating today, notonly with Jews but also with the Arabs?Well, since that transformative season,we have had wars in Lebanon andin Gaza, failed peace and that terribleincident where an AWOL Jewish soldier,opened fire in a bus in the Arab town ofShfaram, killing four people. So, it hasnot been easy but the challenge remainsand Jewish Israelis need to meet it. Letme indicate how far we have come by ananecdote covered in our book.There was this proud Arab nationalistfrom Sakhnin - also an ardent soccerfanatic - who went to the Israel/Irelandmatch. He had never before been to watchIsrael play but was making an exceptiononly because his football idol Abbas wasplaying. He tried to find a seat where theIrish supporters were sitting to avoid‘Praise be the Lord’, Bnei Sakhnin’s Jewishcoach looking thankfully towards the heavens.Suspense in the stands.Abbas Suan, Israel midfielder: “They try toput me in one group, but I represent both.”sitting next to Jewish Israelis but wastold all those rows were reserved. Sohe took his chances in the stands andsat with everyone around him draped inblue and white. All throughout the game- while the spectators were shouting“Israel, Israel” - this guy was bellowingeven louder: “Abbas, Abbas.” Althoughrooting for the same side, there was amini-battle going on.And then Abbas scores his magicalgoal.All of a sudden, “These Jewish guyshauled me aloft as if I had scored thegoal.” Suddenly, this Arab nationalistgets totally blown away with emotion.All the way home, at every traffic lighten route to Sakhnin, he screams out thewindow, “Abbas, Abbas”. In effect, he waspublically delighting in Israel’s triumph.The most telling moment was when hewoke the next morning, having collapsedon his bed and found he was still drapedwith the blue and white Israeli flag. Hewould never have carried an Israeli flagand here he was, quite literally, “sleepingwith the enemy’.It had been a historic day.A Bnei Sakhnin official reflecting on thesuccess proclaimed, “Come to Sakhninand see how Jews and Muslims live together,drink and eat together and playtogether.”There was euphoria; so much expectation!For that brief moment in March,Abbas Suan achieved what politiciansin more than half a century had not– he united the Jewish and Arab citizensof Israel.What about the day after the day after?Well, how can we forget! Two weekslater Sakhnin played Beitar Yerushalayimin Jerusalem. Their fans unfurled a giantbanner that proclaimed, ‘Suan, youare not one of us’, accompanied by racistverbiage, the total antithesis of the‘Sakhnin Challenge’. Yet Suan—whosupports a Palestinian state and the restitutionof land and homes lost whenIsrael was founded, including his family’shome which I visited with him nearBeit She’an, was unfazed by such slurs.“I ignore them,” said the Bnei Sakhnincaptain who would later that year benominated as a Time, ‘Man of the Year’.“They’re not worth my attention.”Abbas saw himself as someone outto fashion a more enlightened future.Apart from Israel reaching the WorldCup, his dream was for all the people inIsrael to live together in peace. “Theytry to put me in one group, but I representboth.”So was the season of 2004-2005 anephemeral ‘Camelot’ moment?Even though those magical triumphson the soccer pitch have passed, thechallenge remains. We are yet, as theJewish majority, to embrace the spiritof Sakhnin beyond the soccer field.You know, there is total equality inIsraeli soccer. The Arabs will be thefirst to admit it. Walid Badir, an Arab,is today captain of Hapoel Tel Aviv.However, when the 90 minutes areup, that equality, that acceptance, doesnot leave the stadium gates. If ‘JewishIsrael’ does not make the effort to understandwhat Arabs want, Sakhnin canwin ten championships, it won’t do anygood. As a Sakhnin resident expressedto me, “Israelis today know the world.They visit the most faraway places inSouth America and the Far East butthey don’t come here and they don’tknow us.” And it’s true – Jewish Israelisdo not know Arab Israelis. And I don’twant to say they don’t want to knowbut maybe are little afraid to even try.My hope is that we begin to make theeffort; to reach out. We will discover apeople not in the image that we sometimesimagine, shaped by the rhetoric oftheir public figures. But we must beginthe process and I hope that our ‘Goalsfor Galilee’ will encourage us to startthe journey.‘The Big Match’ is awaiting kickoff.•Leaving the interview, the writer was leftwith an image of Abbas, not the politician,but the footballer. Abbas Suan is in his striderunning towards the goal, towards a placein history, towards hope. •A Goalden MomentCape Town-born Rael Kaplan from MoshavYodfat (near Sakhnin) attended the 2004 matchin Ramat Gan when Bnei Sakhnin won the IsraelCup. “After the match we raced back and wentstraight to Sakhnin to be there when the teamreturned. It was late at night but few people hadgone to bed. The residents were pouring out ontothe streets - car hooters were blaring and peopleof all ages were singing and shouting in thestreets. And then the team arrived a little aftermidnight and the people went crazy. It was awonderful feeling – seeing Jews and Arabs rejoicingtogether.”