A long exile comes to an end

[Gerrit]

I know it is nothing to do with RBK or so, but I thought this does deserve to be mentioned in football forums around the world... The national team of Palestine will next week play its first ever home game.

Palestine already has its own FA and national team for a long time but only became a FIFA member about 10 years ago since the Palestinian areas have a degree of autonomy after the Oslo Agreements. However, the palestinian team was not allowed to play any real home games in the West Bank or Gaza due to security risks, and for the last 10 years has played all home games in exile in Jordan or Qatar. The team is mostly made up out of palestinians living around the world, as the players living in the actual Palestinian areas face travel restrictions and cannot always make it to away games with the national team. Some Palestinians living as far as USA and Chile play for the national team. Games are often played without any training sessions beforehand due to players based in West Bank and Gaza facing travel restrictions, and due to having no decent training facilities in the Gaza Strip.

After about 10 years of playing its "home" games in neutral venues, Palestine is playings its first real home game on 26th October. Jordan is travelling to the Gaza Strip for a friendly game and this will celebrate the opening of the newly reconstructed Ram Stadium in Gaza. Sepp Blatter himself will be present to officially open the stadium. It will be the first ever real international game in Gaza and the end of a long lasting exile for the Palestinian team. The visit of the FIFA president is also remarkable, especially when knowing the Gaza airport is defunct for over 5 years now and the only border crossing with Egypt is usually closed for public.





I guess this proves again sports manages to break barriers where politicians fail. Gaza was cut off from the outside world since Egypt closed the last border-crossing point, but now football manages to connect Gaza with the outside world again even if just for a day. That is great news, although it is of course still a friendly game, and not sure if World Cup qualifiers will be allowed to be played there.

Am I naive to believe that football can maybe contribute towards peace for both the people in Gaza and Israel? It would not be the first time that football brings people together where it was previously impossible. Remember USA versus Iran in 1998, which actually saw Americans and Iranians meet in peace and celebrate football together. That was a proof that sports can often accomplish more than politicians can. The real target should be peace for anyone in Palestine AND Israel, it may be a long road but I do believe sports can maybe pay a contribution to it? It definitely puts it all in the limelight and that forces politicians to act, or at least it should do so.

PS a few years ago there were a few friendly games by a selection of both Israeli and Palestinian footballers, together in one team playing friendlies against Spanish professional clubs. That was another sign of how football can break barriers and bring people together.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

PS this is by no means intended as a political statement of any sort, so I hope there wont be any such comments. I thought the fact that a long exile is ending is a positive fact, and deserved to be mentioned. Lets not pollute the good news by starting an Israel-Palestine debate, in the end the only right outcome for that is peace on both sides of the border anyway.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Gerrit]

1-1 result, game attended by 6000 fans more or less.

And correction: Ram Stadium is not in Gaza but in the West Bank, in the town of Al Ram near Ramallah and Jerusalem to be precise.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!