{"id":646682,"date":"2026-08-20T05:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646682\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T05:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:02:29","slug":"like-a-home-away-from-home-gazan-paracyclists-on-their-dublin-belfast-charity-spin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646682\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Like a home away from home’: Gazan paracyclists on their Dublin-Belfast charity spin"},"content":{"rendered":"

TWO GAZAN PARACYCLISTS are in Ireland for the first time and have cycled from Dublin to Belfast to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mohammed Abu Asfour and Ala\u2019a Aldali of the Gaza Sunbirds cycled 200km over the weekend with an entourage of around 300 Irish cyclists making the journey in solidarity with Palestine.<\/p>\n

Karim Ali, co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds, said that the cycle showed \u201chow powerful sport can be to connect people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single town came out and welcomed us, which was awesome,\u201d he told The Journal.<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp
\n Fidelma Bonass<\/p>\n

Fidelma Bonass\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some lovely receptions along the way, and everyone cooked and baked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just such a lovely community-type thing, the kids were out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were welcoming us just as people, of course, but they were also welcoming us as athletes\u2026 That was something that was very beautiful to feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali cycled the route for the second time this year, with many more people joining this year than last.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, next year is even better. We bring more people out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp
\n Fidelma Bonass<\/p>\n

Fidelma Bonass\n<\/p>\n

Ali founded the Gaza Sunbirds in 2020 with Aldali, two years after Aldali, Palestine\u2019s national champion cyclist, had his leg amputated after being shot by Israeli forces during a peaceful demonstration.<\/p>\n

Aldali had never been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip to race internationally, and he kept getting visa rejections, Ali told\u00a0The Journal. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was trying for six years, and finally, in 2018, he had the chance to go and compete in the Asian Games in Jakarta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two months before the competition while on his way to cycling training, Aldali stopped at the Great March of Return in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith his bike in his hand, he was shot by an Israeli sniper,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an explosive bullet. It was outlawed after the First World War, and he was rejected medical leave, and then he had to get an amputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp
\n Mohammed Abu Asfour and Ala\u2019a Aldali. Fidelma Bonass<\/p>\n

Fidelma Bonass\n<\/p>\n

Ali said he met Aldali after being asked to translate a short documentary on the athlete, and found him to be \u201cinspirational\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since their formation, the team has moved from strength to strength, competing in all three paracycling world cups this year, and earning over five times the number of points for Palestine than in 2025.<\/p>\n

They also qualified for the world championships, but cannot attend as the visas are prohibitively expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a tricky situation. The visas were going to cost us $10,000 (\u20ac9,000) per head to make the application\u2026 and the crazy part is that\u2019s with a 30% discount.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They have now set their sights on the 2028 Paralympics in LA, which Ali said is \u201cthe dream\u201d.<\/p>\n

Irish former Paralympian Mark Rohan, who won gold for Ireland twice in the 2012 Paralympic games, has been coaching the team for around two years.<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp
\n Mohammed Abu Asfour, Ala\u2019a Aldali and Karim Ali on the cycle. Fidelma Bonass<\/p>\n

Fidelma Bonass\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy that the guys got to come and experience Ireland and got to learn more about the culture and the history,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is a home away from home. The people here really understand the Palestinian cause and have a lot of empathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is a key country for us to want to build relationships with.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a busy time for the Gaza Sunbirds since they returned from Belfast. Last night, they competed in a race at Mondello Park, and today they are visiting Dalymount Park, home ground of Bohemian FC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"778048523_2132586980975085_4890207071840702645_n\"
\n The Gaza Sunbirds competing at Mondello Park on Tuesday night. Se\u00e1n Rowe \/ Sports Photo Ireland<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n Rowe \/ Sports Photo Ireland \/ Sports Photo Ireland\n<\/p>\n

They will finish off their time in Ireland with a social cycle around Dublin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Dublin to Belfast cycle raised around \u20ac5,000 this year and was organised by Irish Sport for Palestine and Cycle for Palestine Ireland, with support from Cycling Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TWO GAZAN PARACYCLISTS are in Ireland for the first time and have cycled from Dublin to Belfast to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[273672,663,172274,52,18,68,273673,19,17,273674,72,273675,132],"class_list":["post-646682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alaa-aldali","tag-belfast","tag-cycle","tag-dublin","tag-eire","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-sunbirds","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mohammed-abu-asfour","tag-palestine","tag-para-cylists","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117126087065613023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}