Amid the Israeli missiles that have brought death and destruction of unimaginable proportions in Gaza, it’s hard to visualise a few young Palestinian men getting worried about a battle between the bat and ball.
Yunis Halim, an American baseball player who was born to Palestinian parents in Chicago, could not believe it either when he saw messages from his former teammates from Gaza, asking him about his well-being and his preparations for the Arab Classic, a Baseball United-organised tournament for the national teams of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and Palestine, which will be hosted in Dubai this November.
Halim has featured for the country of his origin in international baseball tournaments last year, playing alongside eight players from Gaza.
But since the war broke out last October, Halim has joined hands with players of Palestinian heritage who live in different parts of the world to form the team as the raging war has reduced Gaza to rubble.
The war has also killed Ashraf, a talented baseball player from Gaza who played alongside Halim for the national team when there was relative peace in the region.
“He died in an air strike this year. He played with us last year in Pakistan,” Halim told City Times over a Zoom video call from the US.
But the death of a rising star has failed to kill the spirit of baseball in Gaza.
“The rest of the players, they are still in touch with us, they are the greatest people on earth. They always check on us. It just shows the people they are given the circumstances they are in. That they can still care about others is amazing,” Halim said.
“So, whenever we speak to them, they always ask us the same questions, ‘Are we training, which tournament are we going to play next?’ They are like, ‘Go and play for Palestine and make us proud’.”
Origin of baseball in Palestine
While Halim is not really a walking encyclopedia on the origins of baseball in his homeland, he does know how his father got into the sport in Palestine before moving to the US three decades ago.
“My father actually played baseball growing up in Palestine surprisingly. Back then he played for fun with friends and family, those were not organised games of baseball,” Halim said. “They didn’t have the equipment, so what they did was to use a stick and a rubber ball, he was playing catcher with no gear, so it was just amazing.”
Amazingly, Halim, who had also featured in the Chicago State University team, said it was around 2017 that the first steps were taken in Gaza to build a Palestinian national baseball team.
“Actually, the Team Palestine started from players in Gaza around 2017. It wasn’t well known. It was very small, they barely had eight players, then Palestinian-origin players from the US also joined,” he said.
“We started to grow. Over the years, we started getting better, we started becoming a lot better as a team. We had players from all over the world.
“Unfortunately, the players from Gaza and other parts of Palestine, are not part of the team any more because nobody is safe there now.”
Great honour
The Arab Classic in Dubai offers a great opportunity to lift the spirit of their trapped teammates in Gaza.
“It’s a blessing, it’s everybody’s dream. In Palestine, it’s the dream of everyone to be able to play for their country. This is a huge honour, it’s something we take pride in especially in a moment like this when the country is going through a hard time,” Halim said.
“Our dream is to win this tournament and raise the trophy. I know they (teammates from Gaza) are going to follow our matches and our progress.
“Of course, baseball is just a game, but it’s more than a game for every player in the Palestinian national team now.”
Halim also can’t thank Kash Shaikh, Chairman and Co-founder of Baseball United, enough for bringing the sport to the UAE.
The ambitious league, which began with a couple of exhibition matches last year at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, will kick off in October 2025 with five professional teams featuring some of the game’s biggest names.
The Arab Classic is an initiative from the Baseball United organisers to help the sport grow at the grassroots level in the region.
“I spoke to Kash about it. For this region, it’s amazing to have a baseball tournament of this scale. There is so much hidden talent out there that he is going to find and he is going to change peoples’ lives,” he said.
“And Dubai is one of the world’s most beautiful places. So, nobody is going to say no to it.”
Halim says Shaikh could not have found a better name for this tournament.
“It’s called Baseball United for a reason, it has got people from so many countries together at a time when there is so much pain in this world,” he said.
“Last year at the showcase (two exhibition matches), we saw flags from Japan, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Palestine and so many countries. So, he came up with the perfect name, Baseball United. It’s indeed uniting the whole world. It’s beautiful.”
Hoping for a better future
The 27-year-old, who draws a lot of inspiration from Russian UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov and American boxing icon Muhammad Ali, prays everyday for the war to end.
“When I used to visit Palestine, I always brought a couple of extra balls and gloves so I could play with the kids out there,” he recalled.
“Then they had men’s baseball teams and they also had softball tournaments for women. It was beautiful to see the girls swing a bat and hit the softball because not many Arab girls play sports.”
The sport was beginning to get bigger and bigger every year before the war started.
“Hopefully this madness will end soon and we can go back to Gaza and build a baseball field for every kid that wants to play this beautiful sport,” he said.
“They have so many hidden talents that need to be discovered.”