Arab sport in Israel is publicly presented by its major actors as an integrative sphere, and Arab athletes usually distance themselves from nationalist overtones or political protest. Israeli Boxing, which is dominated athletically and administratively by Arabs is even an extreme example of this tendency. This paper juxtaposes the integrative discourse produces by Arab boxer and functionaries with the life story of Hamze Yones. In 1963 Hamze Yunes was a rising boxing star and represented his Israeli sports association, Beitar, in international competitions. Eight years later, in 1971, he was captured in the Mediterranean Sea while commanding a group of Palestinian naval guerillas on their way to kidnap Israeli soldiers. In 1974 he became a Palestinian national hero after a legendary escape from an Israeli jail to Lebanon. Hamze's fascinating life story from Israeli boxing star to Palestinian guerrilla is not only good material for a Hollywood blockbuster movie, it is also highly interesting as a case study that challenges the conventional linkage between Arab sport and politics Israel. Hamze's narrative ties his attraction for boxing to the humiliation of Arab men under the Israeli Military Government (1948-1966), implying that boxing was a combative practice more than a channel for integration. Based on Hamze's memoirs published in 1999 and interviews with his family members, the article contrasts the two diametrically opposed discourses and discusses the reasons for Hamze's exceptionality.

Hichem Ben Ammar's "J'en ai vu des etoiles" records and recounts the stories of several Tunisian boxers from the 1920s to the present, and in so doing, develops a thesis about loss, regret, and anger. The film bears witness to the disappearance of a world, and what emerges from the accounts of his boxers and their trainers, managers, referees, friends, fans, and sons and wives, is a kind of allegory describing Tunisia's colonial past and the rocky road of decolonization that leads to the present. In the words of one retired boxer, as he stands before the former gym of the legendary trainer and amateur boxer Rezgui Ben Salah: "Whether you like it or not, it's a legacy . . . unfortunately now closed and in ruins." Ben Ammar has described his filmmaker's role as that of "observer and subjective witness," and he takes very seriously his ethical responsibility: "As the guardian of the words of individuals I had sought out, I made it my responsibility to listen to their voices without betraying them," adding: "The boxer is by definition the incarnation of a revolt against the injustice of society. How to restore the force of his protest How to render it audible There's the challenge."

Race, Place, and Football: Morocco and Egypt as "Arab Africa" in the Race to Host the 2010 FIFA World Cup This paper examines the competition between Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. The decision by FIFA (football's world governing body) to award the 2010 Cup to an African nation set off a vigorous competition between these three nations to win the right to host the prestigious event. With hopes of raising the prestige, political profiles, and economic fortunes of their nations, officials from Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa constructed geographic, political, economic, and historical narratives to win over FIFA officials. This paper argues that a racial discourse was at the center of these constructions; that a discursive struggle between "Arab African" and "Black African" narratives forced FIFA officials to consider the intersection of race and geography in awarding the first World Cup to be hosted on the continent of Africa. "Race, Place, and Football" links two seemingly disparate fields of historical research. First, it makes an important contribution to the literature on Pan-African identity. Since the 1960's, attempts to construct Pan-African unity have engendered numerous political and economic conferences. A central theme in these conferences, and in related speeches by African leaders, has been the attempt to define "Africaness" in light of the continent's linguistic, religious, phenotypic, and historical diversity. Starting with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's attempts in the 1960's to take a leading role in Pan-African unity discussions, the authenticity of "Arabs" as Africans has been an important, if often implicit, element of disagreement between Arab North Africa and Sub-Saharan, "black" African nations. "Race, Place, and Football" links these political debates to the immensely popular cultural practice of football, and suggests that sport has played a central role in the discursive contestation of racial categories on the continent. Second, the paper links the Arab world to the growing literature on sport and society. Despite the enormous popularity of football in the Arab World, relatively few researchers have examined the role of sport in the Arab historical narrative. This paper suggests that sport indeed has played a central role in attempts by Morocco and Egypt to define their national projects on the global stage; that racialized narratives of nationalism, modernity, and progress have been mapped on to, and promoted through, their participation in international sporting competition.