Solidarity Match for Palestine
Join us in a friendly fixture seeking to build solidarity and raise funds towards the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and occupied Palestine.
“Football is the only escape from war and the Israeli occupation. Young people and children turn to football as it offers distraction from the circumstances. Football makes them feel good. In Gaza, we love football.”
-Mahmoud Wadi
our mission and goal
Goals for Gaza was started by local community members in solidarity with Palestinians and their right to resist an 84 year-long settler colonial project. As we watch a US-funded genocide unfold before our eyes, we call upon our community to come together as we stand in solidarity with Palestine.
Goals for Gaza has a fundraising goal of $5,000 for the tournament with funds supporting both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Palestine has one of the oldest histories of organized football anywhere in the Middle East, dating back to the early 1920s. Football creates communities; it crosses all geographic, ethnic, and religious boundaries. It’s the people’s sport - all you need is a ball - and it’s the national sport of Palestine. Football connects many of us here in Los Angeles as well. Players of all backgrounds from all over the city gather to play all around LA. In Palestine, however, football is an act of resistance in and of itself.
We call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and end to the siege in Gaza.
We call for the Palestinian peoples’ right to self-determination. We dream of a world where all people live freely on decolonized lands that are free of borders, checkpoints, prisons, and police that terrorize our communities. Because all oppression is linked, no one is free until all of us are free.
SATURDAY,
MARCH 30TH
8AM - 12 PM
We acknowledge this tournament takes place on Palestine Land Day as well as during Ramadan.
*If you are observing Ramadan we invite you to play safely and are aiming to provide experienced medical professionals on site.
In gathering for Palestine Land Day we’d like to use the opportunity to honor a past event, as well as create resilient ways to further denounce Israeli land theft.