Growing pains will inspire greater results

Palestine’s baseball team earned third place at Baseball United’s Arab Cup in Dubai, after finishing the group stage undefeated.

Failing to reach the finals hurt, but the 45th ranked team in the world will use the pain to reignite their ambitious flame.

“When I started the baseball federation, I was told it would take 20 years to achieve success,” Mahmoud Tafesh, the founder of the Palestinian Baseball and Softball federation told Palestinian supporters in Dubai. “But over the last three years we’ve accomplished what they said would take 20 years.”

During those three years, the team took second place at the West Asia Cup, qualified for the Asian Championship and at the time of his statement were 2-0 in the group stage headed into a big game against The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In that same time period, the team went from unranked to one of the top 50 teams in the world.

Palestine defeated Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia en route to the semi-finals against the host country United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Second baseman Syam Lafi and outfielder Dylan Ahmad earned All Tournament honors. Lafi had a perfect on-base percentage and Ahmad had Palestine’s only home-run of the tournament headed into the championship rounds. Yacoub Rayan, Rumsey Yasin, Abdel Dolah and Yunis Haleem were regular contributors to Palestine’s success in Dubai.

Steven Mufareh, Muhammad Abdelfattah, Ahmad Ghouleh and Haleem pitched effectively during the tournament.

Photos by Zaida Lagardien

The final score of the semi-final against UAE, 6-1, doesn’t indicate how close the game actually was.

The team’s ace, Mufareh, started on the mound and was dominant early on. During the fifth inning his stamina was tested. Mufareh barely got any time to rest in the dugout in between innings before returning to the mound, because his counterpart–Lorenzo Riddle—was just as effective. For the first time all tournament Palestine struggled to string together runs.

Palestine manager Ozzie Guillen Jr. told the team not to use excuses following the loss and put it simply, “ you guys are Palestinians. You guys know life is not fair. That's the game of baseball…do not use an excuse, the only excuse is we got our butts kicked. We gotta get better from here moving forward.”

Guillen Jr., who joined the team as the manager in Taiwan at the Asian Championship, told his squad they are no longer a “random team” and other teams are closely scouting them. The Arab Cup was the first tournament Palestine entered with high expectations. Palestine was favored to make the finals headed into group play

Palestine does not have any confirmed upcoming tournaments or games on their schedule but the members of the team will continue training to stay ready, while the staff vows to continue to recruit the top Palestinian talent from around the world.

Even with all the success, the most impressive thing about the team is it all began in Gaza—the most densely populated strip of land on earth, where the population lives in an open air prison.

Tafesh, who is currently based in Turkey, traveled with the team to Dubai as their honorary captain. He founded the team in 2017 when he lived in Gaza with the help of his brother and nephews. His brother Ahmed and his nephews are still trapped in Gaza. The area where the federation used to train in Gaza was bombed and destroyed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

The team also dedicated their tournament run to their late teammate Ashraf Morad, who was killed in Gaza by Israel earlier this year in Gaza.

Mahmoud Tafesh’s home in Gaza was bombed this past year. Behind their home is where Palestinians would train and learn baseball skills.

A baseball bat was left intact after the Tafesh home and field behind it were bombed.

Despite the unfortunate end to the Arab Cup and the state of affairs in Gaza, the team’s early success in the tournament galvanized a community that isn’t allowed to express themselves freely when it comes to the Palestinian cause.

For a moment–in a safe space– people living in Dubai had the freedom to wear their kuffiyehs, wave their Palestinian flags and sing “Demi Falisteeni” with all their might.

For more coverage of the team, subscribe to my substack Ihmoud’s Moods and subscribe to Palestine in America—the official news organization of the Palestine’s baseball team.