Between a Wall and a Hard Place: playing football under occupation

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Dispatch: a series dedicated to immersive storytelling, where our photographers and writers journey to chosen places, combining evocative imagery with long-form editorials to uncover and share unique football cultures.

Between a Wall and a Hard Place: playing football under occupation

Words and Photography by Freddie

January 6 2025

On afternoons, small groups of girls wearing red jerseys walk through the narrow streets of Aida camp, a Palestinian refugee camp located in the West Bank. They are strolling towards a highlight of their week: football training. After school, the girls gather on a football pitch that lies at the edge of the camp in the shadow of the Apartheid wall, an 8-metre-tall concrete barrier that separates the refugee camp from the Israeli settlement of Gilo and, further north, Jerusalem. In this unlikely place, right beside a symbol of the occupation, the girls of Aida Youth Center’s Aod Football Academy have created a safe space where they can exercise, hang out with their friends, and escape the overcrowded and often violent reality of the camp. But this safe space could be destroyed at any moment, as the Israeli occupation has issued a demolition order against the football pitch.

Life in a Long-Term Refugee Camp

The term ‘refugee camp’ is usually associated with tents and temporary displacement. But after 75 years, Aida refugee camp in the West Bank has slowly evolved from a temporary encampment to a densely populated and poor neighbourhood, housing over 5,000 Palestinian refugees. The streets are mostly mere alleyways, and the haphazardly constructed houses provide little privacy. Aida refugee camp was supposed to be a temporary solution when it was established in 1950, but four generations of refugees are still living in these precarious conditions – with lingering hope for return to their original villages.

Overcrowding, high poverty and unemployment levels, and poor infrastructure are not the only issues plaguing Aida camp. In addition to the Apartheid wall, which snakes around the Northern and Eastern side of the camp, there are five watch towers, as well as an Israeli military base. The presence of these infrastructures of occupation exposes the camp to disproportionate amounts of violence perpetrated by the Israeli military, who enter the camp frequently to arrest and intimidate. Tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition are things that all camp residents are very familiar with, even children¹.

‘It’s so great to have this large, open space to play on’ – Sham, 11 years old

The Girls of Aod Football Academy
In this difficult reality, football is an important outlet for the children of Aida camp. Aod’s football pitch is the only open space in the densely populated camp where youth can play freely and in relative safety. Currently, 250 young players come to the pitch at least twice a week for training. Of those, forty-five are girls. Worries and residual taboos about girls playing sports in public meant that the football club started with a small group of girls, but that number has been increasing steadily over the last few years. Parents see how much their daughters benefit from exercising, from spending time outside with their friends, and the opportunities that the football club brings. Through Aod, some of the girls have been able to travel abroad for the first time in their lives, and they frequently travel across the West Bank to play matches against their peers. These are valuable experiences that most children from the camp don’t get.

‘I just felt the high energy when I first came to the football pitch, and I immediately signed up’ – Mariam, 11 years old

While some of the girls come to play and see their friends, others come to training with clear ambitions: they want to ‘go pro’, to join the Palestinian national team and represent their country in international tournaments. Three girls are well on their way in achieving those dreams. They have been selected by the Palestinian national team and are already partaking in international matches. Earlier this month, they travelled to Saudi Arabia to represent Palestine in the West Asia Football Federation (WAFF) U14 girls' championship, where they came in third place.

‘We leave all our problems and worries at the gate, and focus on training and having fun with our friends’ – Selma, 16 years old

The Uncertain Future of the Football Pitch
It’s been nearly five years now since the football pitch was constructed, and for the past five years the girls of Aod have been training diligently and changing narratives about girls’ football. And just as the fruits of their labour are beginning to show, the future of the safe space they have built has suddenly become very uncertain. On 3 November 2025, Aida Youth Center received a demolition order for its football pitch and the adjacent facilities. The Israeli authorities have decided that the pitch, the bathrooms, changing rooms and stands need to be removed, a decision that they could implement at any moment. Last week, the Israeli army raided the pitch again, ordering that football training be halted immediately and the pitch bulldozed. If not, they will destroy the pitch and send Aida Youth Center the bill.

‘If they destroy the pitch, we won’t be able to achieve our dreams’ – Faten 14 years old

The girls are distraught. If the pitch is demolished, it is unclear where they could continue training. In the overcrowded camp, there is no space for community areas, let alone a football pitch. And if training is halted, their dreams of joining the Palestinian national team will seem more out of reach.

In an attempt to save the pitch from destruction, Aida Youth Center has launched a campaign. They are asking friends and supporters worldwide to speak out against the demolition, which might dissuade the Israeli occupation from carrying out the demolition order. If you want to help too, please sign the petition, share Aida Youth Center’s videos about the football pitch, and post under the hashtag #save_aidas_pitch. You can also donate via Aida Youth Center’s website to support the football academy.

Freddie has worked in Aida refugee camp for six years, and lived there for the past 1.5 years. She is currently completing a PhD, and spends her free time exploring Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries with her camera. She photographed the girls of Aod in September 2025 when watching their football training on a Wednesday afternoon.

¹ Haar & Ghannam (2018). No Safe Space: Health Consequences of Tear Gas Exposure Among Palestine Refugee. Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law. Available from: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NoSafeSpace_full_report22Dec2017.pdf

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