As Celtic prepare to play Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva at Celtic Park in UEFA Champions League playoff action on Wednesday night, some of the club’s supporters plan to give the visitors a rather awkward welcome — by waving the flag of Palestine.
The group 'Celtic Fans for Palestine' announced their intention to fly the controversial flag before and during what is a vital match for both clubs in protest over what it calls a “system of apartheid... colonization... and segregation” in the region. As of this writing, the Facebook page “Fly the Flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice” had more than 1,300 interested users and more than 1,000 people indicating that they planned to participate.
As Celtic Park holds 60,000 spectators, this is a small, albeit vocal minority.
It’s logical to wonder why supporters of a team from Scotland would want to take such an active and visible stance on such a controversial issue. However, this will hardly be the first time the flag of Palestine, an unofficial banner as Palestine is not a formally recognized nation, has been at Celtic games.
Long-time Hoops supporters say the flags of Palestine, as well as the Basque region of Spain, have flown at the Glasgow team’s games since at least the early 1980s.
A fairly large segment of the team’s support has identified with the independence movements in these and other regions throughout the world because they consider them analogous to the historic struggle for independence in Ireland and the present-day movement (perhaps a strong word at this point) to unify the north of Ireland (currently part of the United Kingdom) with the Republic to the south.
Many Celtic supporters are Irish immigrants or descendants of Irish immigrants.
In 2014, during the most recent Gaza war, the club was fined £20,000 by UEFA after the Green Brigade supporters group flew the Palestinian flag at a Champions League qualifying match, and many expect the club to face a similar, or perhaps stiffer, punishment should they do so again this week. There have been reports some participating fans may be arrested.
Hapoel and Celtic will also meet next week in the second leg of the playoff in Israel, just a 20-minute drive from Gaza.
