The second leg match will now take place on Tuesday in Hebron, in a game which is being led 1-0 by Ahli Al-Khaleel after the first match of Palestine Cup, played by the winners of the West Bank Premier League and the Gaza Strip League.
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The Palestinian Cup final was postponed on Saturday after Israeli authorities prevented several footballers from leaving the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing, the Palestinian Football Association announced on Saturday.
Rajoub, who is a senior member of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mamhmoud Abbas ” s Fatah movement, is known for his inciting statements against Israel, which include claiming in a television interview that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler could have learned from Israel about extermination camps.
In 2015, he campaigned to have Israel suspended from Federation Internationale de Football Association because, he claimed, Israel was restricting the movement of Palestinian Arab players.
Before letting them through, the Shin Bet said the team members were barred due to “severe negative security background”.
On Sunday, the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, filed a complaint about the incident to the worldwide soccer governing body, FIFA. Hebron won the title.
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The Palestinian Football Association withdrew a motion to expel Israel from FIFA past year as part of a compromise that was meant to establish a committee to ensure freedom of movement for Palestinian soccer players. What is not clear is whether they will attempt to revive efforts to have Israel expelled from the worldwide sports body. Every peace plan tabled in recent decades has included some mechanism to ensure free Palestinian movement between the two territories. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week’s events.
