Palestinian With Israeli Roots Wins Jordan’s First Olympic Medal
Abu Ghoush Image by Wikipedia
— Jordan won its first-ever Olympic medal thanks to the performance of a Palestinian taekwondo fighter whose family left Israel 20 years ago.
Abu Ghoush, who was born in Jordan, received a call from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who congratulated him on winning gold Thursday at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
In addition to celebrations in Amman, the event was also celebrated at the Israeli-Arab village of Abu Gosh southwest of Jerusalem, where the athlete’s family used to live until 20 years ago, Ynet reported.
Abu Ghoush, who upset Russia’s Alexey Dinisenko 10-6 in the under-150-pound category, burst into tears while giving a television interview after his victory.
According to Ynet, his family comes to visit Abu Gosh several times a year, where they still have many relatives and friends.
Known for its hummus restaurants and convenient location on the main road connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Abu Gosh is considered a model of coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs, whose relationships are often strained by religious issues and matters connected to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Abu Gosh was among a handful of Palestinian villages whose leaders stuck to a policy of neutrality during the civil war stages of Israel’s War of Independence. In practice, some villagers sided with the Yishuv, pre-state Israel’s Jewish population, in a breakthrough that had strategic significance when the Yishuv was fighting desperately to reach besieged Jerusalem.
Despite this cooperation, Abu Gosh residents were slapped with eviction notices after Israel’s independence in 1948 along with Palestinian villages in the area that served as bases for launching attacks that killed hundreds of Jews.
However, under public pressure and protest by left- and right-wing Israelis over what was perceived as an unjust and ungrateful move, most of Abu Gosh’s residents were allowed to resettle in it by 1950.
Today, Abu Gosh is one of a few Arab-Israeli villages with Jewish residents.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
