An annual soccer and dabke course for vulnerable youth in Sebastia, aimed at promoting psychosocial well-being, cultural roots, and the inclusion of new Palestinian generations in an increasingly acute emergency context.
CONTEXT & OBJECTIVE
For decades, the Occupied Palestinian Territories have endured a state of progressive crisis. The separation wall, Israeli settlements, and restrictions on freedom of movement fragment the social fabric and isolate the most marginalized communities. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023, the situation in the West Bank has worsened dramatically, marked by incursions, detentions, and checkpoint closures.
Sebastia is a village of just over 3,000 inhabitants located a few kilometers from Nablus. In this environment, children and young people grow up amid increasing insecurity and isolation, with fewer and fewer opportunities to access cultural heritage and safe spaces for socializing.
Bringing Sports to Palestine
The Sport for Youths project - built on the experience gained in 2025 - aims to replicate last year's activities with a second group of beneficiaries, ensuring continuity and offering new opportunities to young people who were unable to participate in the first edition.
Through soccer and dabke, the traditional Palestinian dance, the project creates a space for personal growth, cultural expression, and community belonging. The dance also serves as a tool for female empowerment: the course is reserved for girls between the ages of 13 and 16, providing a safe environment for public expression in the historic Elbad Hall, located in the center of Sebastia.
The Osama Hamdan Trophy
The final soccer tournament is open to the surrounding villages and is dedicated to the architect who devoted his life to the development and preservation of Sebastia and Nisf Jubeil: a gesture in which sports, memory, and community come together.
