THE first thing Stephen Redmond noticed when he arrived into the West Bank was the kindness of a people living through horror.
In January 2024, the London-Irishman made the trip to the occupied territory with the goal of doing something – anything – to ease the suffering shown all around the world on TV.
He brought with him the idea of gaelic games as a way of offering kids some kind of escape while interweaving the threads that bond Ireland and Palestine together.
Redmond explained to SunSport: “I know my own history, I was well read of my own history in Ireland.
“I know what the GAA has done for the Irish people. I believe that the GAA is the best organisation to ever come out of Ireland. I honestly do.
“It was still a form of resistance, you know? We weren’t going to be told we can’t play our own sport.
“We can help them, so they’re not walking alone. They know they have a nation that has been through what they’ve been through in many ways, and we can support them with the lessons we’ve learned.”
While born in London, Redmond’s dad and mum are from Carlow and Cork, respectively, while his family spent time in Ireland which he considers his spiritual home.
No stranger to gaelic football, he played for a spell in Cork while his two sons Tadhg and Liam played for St Joseph’s GAA in London.
He learned Irish in night classes in Camden, which proved to be an unlikely advantage when he came to learn Arabic.
The 56-year-old said: “That basic understanding of Irish helped me understand the language of the Palestinians, the Levantine Arabic.
“I’ve actually spoken to Arabic people who were born in the Middle East and come to Ireland.
“It would be easier for them to learn Irish than English or any other language, because our language is based fairly similar with the pronouns, etc.”
It is commonalities such as the above that motivated Redmond’s decision to journey to the West Bank.
A student of Irish and Palestinian history, the dad-of-two links the two nations together both from a cultural and historical perspective.
There are the shared experiences such as both countries being subject to occupation, as well as the far more profound.
In 1922, with the island of Ireland partitioned into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State following the War of Independence, the Black & Tans were of no further use south of the border.
Winston Churchill, then-Secretary of State for the Colonies, redeployed members of the paramilitary force to Palestine where it became known as the British Palestine Gendarmerie.
Redmond added: “Any nation that has suffered settler occupation, dehumanization, subjugation, apartheid, religious persecution, language genocide, food genocide, penal laws, colonization – any nation that has any of those has been affected by any of those will have a natural empathy for another nation.
“Ireland has experienced all of those things and more. And Palestine has experienced much of that too.
“Our link to Palestine is so unique. It is so unique.”
ROAD TO HEBRON
By the time Redmond made his trip, Gaza had been on the receiving end of relentless bombardment by Israel for three months following Hamas’ horrific attack on October 7, 2023.
That attack instigated the latest chapter in a conflict that has its origins in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which outlined the UK’s commitment to a Jewish state in Palestine.
Per some reports, as many as 100,000 Gazans have been killed since October 7. All the while, illegal settlements continue to propagate in the West Bank.
Redmond got an up close and personal look at the extent to which Israel maintains control over who gets in and out of the besieged territory when he made his trip.
He outlined: “They start speaking to you in Hebrew. If you can’t speak Hebrew, you’re asked to join a separate line, so they start breaking you down initially and putting us into a different line.
“They said why are you going and I had no answer. No matter what you think up, it’s not going to work. They’ll ask you have you got any business connections there? No. Any family there? No.
“They took away my bag, and what I thought was, in case I do get stopped, I need to have a few props here.
“I brought a number of Irish flags because I wanted to put up Irish flags to show that the Irish are now here, that we’re with the Palestinians.
“I wrapped it in an Israeli flag, and I put a skull cap in it as well, and that’s what got me through.
“There was a rally in thanks to South Africa for bringing the case with the International Criminal Court about genocide.
“I brought a number of Irish flags there. The Palestinians took the flag off me. They put it right at the front with a girl to show the flag off in front of all the other flags.
“Poor girl had it around the wrong way but it didn’t matter.”
“One member has lost in excess of 60 members of his family in Gaza, so this is normal life.”
Redmond found a place to stay in Hebron before going on to travel to Ramallah while his driver convinced him to abandon a plan to make his way to Gaza itself.
In the months that followed, work was done to build the foundations of gaelic games in the West Bank.
The first club was founded in Ramallah and was eventually named in honour of Moataz Sarsour, a volunteer who was killed by the IDF in August 2024.
There is also the story of Maher Haroun, the PRO of Moataz Sarsour who has been in prison for over 200 days and who Redmond claims has lost 20kg in weight and is suffering from untreated scabies.
Then there is the story of one of the club’s coaches, the identity of whom was not provided for his own security.
Redmond said: “They bulldozed his house down.
“He had tried to get close to it a number of times, but they were sniping at them, so he couldn’t get to his own apartment after being kicked out of his original house.
“He wanted to get back to collect stuff out of it, so he eventually got in a few days later, and after this sniping incident.
“The TV was all broken up by the soldiers, everything was broken.
“Next thing, he had two flashbang grenades thrown in behind him. They went in, smashed his head against the wall, which nearly knocked him out.
“They beat him up and then they threw him over the first floor [balcony], left him dead below.
“He is alive though, and God willing, he’s going to be all right.
“One member has lost in excess of 60 members of his family in Gaza, so this is normal life.”
Yet, in spite of it all, humanity and community has prevailed, almost as if an act of defiance in and of itself.
Redmond gushed: “What a lovely people.
“I remember going in, they were offering me all the services for free. The doctor, the dentist, the sports therapist.
“I remember speaking to a lady in Gaza.
“My aunt fell over. We thought she was going to die.
“She’s in a nursing home, and I sent out a message to a few people, just to say some prayers for my aunt.
“You know what they did in Gaza? They spoke of her, to say prayers for her, in the open air, during the prayers of the Friday.
“She had the whole community praying for an Irish nun in a nursing home in Glasgow, and they’ve been bombed the f*****g s**t out of over there.
“That young fellow that was thrown out of the first floor? He phoned me yesterday to see how I am.”
“We believed we needed to bring them because we felt they might not even be around next year.”
Since the birth of Moataz Sarsour GAA, four other clubs have been established, in Hebron, Tulkaram, South Bethlehem, and Jenin.
Meanwhile, there are plans to introduce gaelic games to 10,000 kids across up to 40 schools in Al Bireh.
The provision of resources has been tricky, but two hurley producers have been set up in the West Bank.
Indeed, despite the plan being to introduce gaelic football, Palestinian kids fell in love with the clash of the ash, which has come to be known as ‘The Freedom Sport’ locally.
Meanwhile, a group of young girls picked up the sticks to play camogie in January 2025 in an indoor complex provided by a Chinese entity.
Infrastructure is naturally modest, with the training ground in Tulkaram amounting to a lane out the back of a house.
They have been donated land in that municipality, although are hesitant to build on it lest it be a target for air strikes, such is the danger with which the people live every day.
Redmond added: “When I first arrived in the camps, one lad said to me, ‘be careful with the soldiers, it’s not like where you come from.’
“It was actually very chilling. He said, ‘they will kill you before they see your blue eyes.'”
VISA ISSUES
Plans are in place for GAA Palestine to visit Ireland later this month.
Thirty-three children and 17 coaches will hopefully tour the country from July 18 to August 1, including a visit with President Michael D Higgins.
A fundraiser has been set-up to finance the supply of equipment and resources for GAA in the West Bank.
Yet obstacles remain, with Redmond revealing visas have not yet been provided for the trip by the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv.
He said: “We were given roughly 10 weeks in which to submit all our documents to the Irish Embassy.
“They added in more requirements which were going to be difficult like birth certificates in English.
“I speak to the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv pretty much every day.
“Then Iran started bombing Israel so they closed the embassy down. They’ve opened up. Then I got an apology from the embassy that the 14 documents I sent them, they had not saved properly.
“We have spent in excess of $38,000 on flights and hotels before we get them into Ireland.
“We had to show proof of purchase to apply for the visas, so had no option but to purchase them, and there is insurance protection.
“This issue with the visas needs to be resolved. I was told that they are doing the best but they still can’t give a final answer as they’re waiting for a response from Dublin.
“I’m asking all political representatives to please support this. This is a major national tour. This will be in the history books.
“We believed we needed to bring them because we felt they might not even be around next year.”
