I thought only countries were able to enter teams in the Olympics? Palestine is not a country. How are they able to enter the Olympics? Are there any other non-countries participating in this way?
Hi William,
Here's the answer to your question:
Palestine was so excited about the possibility of competing in the Olympics that a Palestinian Olympic Committee was one of the first things established after the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a peace agreement on the White House lawn in October 1993. Even though the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is not a state, its status as an independent territory makes it eligible for the Olympics. For years, Israel blocked any recognition of “Palestine” arguing it was not a sovereign nation, yet non-sovereign nations like Puerto Rico, for example, which is an American territory, have a tradition of participation, Ray Hanania wrote in Mideast Youth (http://www.mideastyouth.com) on August 9.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/det...p?cat=1&
id=1958
They first participated in 1996 in Atlanta and have sent athletes to each summer Olympics since.
Hi, my name is Amanda, & I'm a 15-year-old Palestinian American. I just wanted to tell you that I think what you're doing on this blog is great; it's definitely time someone recognized all the issues going on with Palestine and the Israelis without involving violence or blaming Palestinians. Keep it up 
I will definitely be checking back for updates here.
Marhaba Amanda,
Thank you dear, as an American who has lived in the Middle East (many moons ago) and visited Sabra-Shatilla (1975-during the very beginning of the Lebanese civil war) I could see with my own eyes how Palestinians were living there. It wasn't Palestine, but it was surely an eye-opener. But what was more important than their living conditions was the manner in which we were received (I was with my sister-in-law who was attending AUB and working on her degree in public health). I have never forgotten it in all these years, just sharing tea and cookies as my sister in law did her survey for her class, ......then as I learned more about the history it simply boggled my mind at the injustice that was done to your people. Fast forward to today, and the ethnic cleansing and vilifying of the Palestinians, making them into the so called enemy when they are the VICTIM-well-Amanda-the simple word for it is that it is just WRONG. And my tax payer dollars pay for it! It's a crime Amanda, an awful crime. It goes so deep to not even recognizing Palestinians as human beings, well, you know what? That is a SIN against our creator who placed us each on this earth as his children.
Keep coming back Amanda and blessings to you dear in all you do. There are MANY Americans who "get it", that what is being done to Palestinians is not right, and the numbers are growing daily.
(and I really liked the shirts the Palestinian athletes wore in the opening ceremonies! I think it would be a GREAT idea to have a whole group go to Dunkin' Donuts in them!)
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