Mark Gerban

Mark Gerban
nation	Palestine United States
birthday	November 30, 1979
place of birth	Philadelphia ,  United States
Career
discipline	Rowing / Skull
society	Rowing Society Hansa
Trainer	Martin Strohmenger Rita Hendes
National squad	since 2005
status	resigned
End of career	2007

Mark Gerban also Marc Gerban (born November 30, 1979 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) is a former American-Palestinian rower who ran for the Palestinian Territories . His best place in the lightweight - One reached Gerban at the 2007 World Championships in Munich with 16th place.

Education and training

From 1994 to 1998 Gerban attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore , Pennsylvania. In 2003 he graduated as a so-called triple major from Drexel University in the subjects of Production Operations Management , Economics, and International Business. After graduating, Gerban was employed by CIGNA Corporation for two years.

During his high school years, Gerban competed in swimming. Thanks to his success in this sport, he received a sports scholarship from Drexel University. In addition to the swimming season, Gerban was also successful in rowing. He won the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and was US National Champion in lightweight double sculls in 2003 . Gerban was elected by his team partners to represent the Student Athletic Advisory Board (SAAB) at Drexel University.

Rowing career

From 2005 Gerban started rowing for the Palestinian Territories. From June 2005 Gerban trained under the guidance of the German trainers Martin Strohmenger and Rita Hendes, initially in Marburg, and from November 2005 in Hamburg at the Hansa rowing company in a training group of the German national rowing team. During this time he was mainly accompanied and supported by Iradj El-Qalqili from the Palestinian Rowing Association. He started in seven regattas of the Rowing World Cup , twice in the World Championships (2005 and 2007), as well as in the Asian qualifying regatta for the Olympic Summer Games in 2008. However, he did not qualify.

Discrimination and Inequality

During his studies at Drexel University , Gerban wrote articles for the university newspaper The Triangle , based on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his personal assessment of his half-Jewish and half-Palestinian origins. His articles were not only received positively, but were also rated as "pro-Palestinian" and were accused of "anti-Semitic statements". Gerban's article and, above all, the different reactions to it prompted the Israeli embassy to take action. She organized a public debate on the Drexel University site to refute Gerban's argument. The Jewish Exponent published a guest post from this debate by Daniel Pipes , who commented on Gerban's article as "the literary equivalent of the suicide bombers" and "unreasonable and aggressive with an ultimately murderous intent."

Gerban, who was unable to attend the debate in person, responded to Pipes' allegations with another article, which he concluded with the following words:

“I am convinced that Palestinians and Israelis can live together and peacefully - my family is the best proof. This requires the right political leadership with a role model function, correct and honest intentions and the will to compromise. You must not forget that if a military power like Israel continues to exert such pressure on a people like the Palestinians - most of whom have almost nothing to lose - we will unfortunately continue to have an increasing number of armed fighters in the future who also resort to the dirtiest means such as suicide bombings, etc., must reckon. The more I have dealt with the Middle East conflict , the more my view of things has changed and has moved me to always illuminate both sides of the coin.

I am convinced that the Middle East conflict can be resolved peacefully, provided that the Israelis and Palestinians both look at their differences objectively and put them aside - before it is too late. "

As his articles attracted attention and sparked public debate, Gerban's interest in the Palestinian issue grew. The debate also encouraged Gerban to represent Palestine internationally in rowing.

Web links

• Mark Gerban at Worldrowing.com ( FISA database )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Michael Gamble: Rower from Lower Merion to compete for Palestinians . Ed .: The Philadelphia Inquirer . April 15, 2005 (English).
2. ^ Frank Bachner: Fatima's farewell. Der Tagesspiegel , September 27, 2006, accessed on January 9, 2016 . 
3. ^ Asia's turn for Olympic places. FISA , April 25, 2008, accessed December 23, 2012 . 
4. ^ Second chance rowing in the international events. FISA, August 28, 2007, accessed December 23, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Katherine Jäger: Mark Gerban to represent Palestine in the men's lightweight single at Worlds. In: rowing1.com. August 17, 2005, archived from the original on August 20, 2007 ; accessed on January 9, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Sheila Stephens-Desbans: FISA Development Program. FISA, archived from the original on December 4, 2010 ; Retrieved December 23, 2012 . 
7. ^ Erik Segelbaum, Commentary on Israel Contained Misguided Claims . Ed .: Drexel University - The Triangle. January 24, 2003 ( HTML (web archive) ( Memento of August 30, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed December 10, 2010]). Commentary on Israel Contained Misguided Claims ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Mark Gerban: All Arguments Should be Conducted with Open Mind . Ed .: Drexel University - The Triangle. June 6, 2003 ( HTML (web archive) ( Memento of September 25, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed December 10, 2010]). All Arguments Should be Conducted with Open Mind ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Birgit Bauridl: Rowing for Palestine, Performing the Crossroads, Living Multiple Consciousness: Mark Gerban and Suheir Hammad . Ed .: All Academic Inc. ( HTML [accessed December 23, 2012]).