Palestinian athlete sees himself as a voice for his people

PARIS : Nine months ago, Fadi Aldeeb missed several calls from his brother. The next day, he found out that he had been killed in an Israeli attack on his home.

Aldeeb, the only Palestinian athlete at the Paris Paralympics, left the Gaza Strip a decade ago for a wheelchair basketball career that took him to Turkey and Greece before France.

"On December 6, I had a French league game and when I was finished I found my brother had called me many times... I tried to call back but there was no connection," Aldeeb, who took part in the Paralympics shot put, told Reuters.

"The 7th of December at night I received (the news) that 'Okay, your brother was killed in an attack on our building'," said Aldeeb, adding that he often wonders what his brother's last message was.

In Paris, Aldeeb is feeling the pressure of being what he says is the voice of his people at the Paralympics.

"It's too many feelings, too much responsibility, because I'm not speaking about myself, I'm not playing for myself. I'm here for 11 million, for all who say I'm a Palestinian, for all who talk about humanity, and to talk about the freedom of Palestine," he said.

"When we are raising the flag here in Paris, we are (showing we are) still alive, we still we need our human rights, we still need our freedom," he said.

The Palestine Olympic Committee was recognised three decades ago by the International Olympic Committee. Gaza has a population of about 2.3 million people, and millions more Palestinians live elsewhere.

OTHER ATHLETES' SUPPORT

Aldeeb, 40, said he became paraplegic after being shot in the back by an Israeli soldier in 2001 during the second Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.

He raises his voice when talking about life in Gaza, where the