Two Palestinian paracyclists were set to take part in the Dublin-to-Belfast Palestine Solidarity Cycle this weekend.
Mohammed Abu Asfour and Alaa al-Dali, members of the Gaza Sunbirds cycling team, arrived in Ireland on Wednesday to participate in the cycle, organised by a number of pro-Palestine groups including Irish Sport for Palestine.
More than 70 cyclists are registered for both Saturday and Sunday but up to 150 people are expected to take part across the two days, growing from roughly 100 participants in 2025.
Rebecca O’Keeffe, chairwoman of Irish Sport for Palestine, said sport was an effective way of showcasing solidarity as it “reaches so many people” in “every single community, especially in Ireland”.
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O’Keeffe said events such as the cycle were “incredibly impactful as a nonviolent resistance” to the “current reality of normalising genocide in sport”.
The cyclists will make a number of stops en route to Belfast. They will be met by pro-Palestine groups hosting the participants and waving flags along the way.
People are free to join at various points throughout the journey and the cyclists were set to make the departure from Portmarnock, Co Dublin, at 10am on Saturday.
O’Keeffe said the cycle has received “so much support” from Cycling Ireland and more than €4,000 has been raised for the Gaza Sunbirds team through fundraising and Cycle for Palestine Ireland merchandise.
Kareem Ali, who participated in the inaugural solidarity cycle last year, cofounded Gaza Sunbirds in 2020 alongside Dali, two years after Dali’s leg was amputated after he was shot by Israeli forces while attending the Great March of Return demonstration on his way to training.
Ali said Ireland was a “really important country for us for many reasons”. The team’s coach, Mark Rohan, won gold twice for Ireland at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
The “long history of Ireland-Palestine solidarity” has also made Ireland feel like a “little Palestine in a way” and acts as a “home away from home”, Ali said.
Ali said: “Everyone now in Gaza has someone in their family with a disability or an amputation.”
He said many wounded in Gaza “want to feel like an active part of society” and sport “gives them an avenue to do that”.
“It is the start of a new life for these athletes,” he said, adding “as we fight to resist, the people resisting need to know there’s a future”.
Nine paracyclists based in Belgium, 11 based in Egypt and more than 20 para-cyclists based in Palestine make up the Gaza Sunbirds team. Ali himself has been based in London for the past nine years.
Bringing a team to the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics is a goal for Ali.
To be able to “open the opportunity for more athletes and raise the Palestinian flag is a big honour”.
In the meantime, the aim is to bring 10 paracyclists into the 2027 season, which will include three world cups. Last year was the first season in which the team competed in all three world cups, compared with one in 2025.
Ali said Palestine was at a disadvantage in preparing for international competitions because they “can’t have national races without getting shot”.
