The Egyptian Olympic football team will travel, via Jordan, to the occupied West Bank on 28 March to play a friendly match against the Palestinian national football team. The match will take place at Faisal al-Husseini Stadium in al-Ram, a town near Jerusalem. The match coincides with celebrations Palestinian Land Day, which falls on 30 March.
The match is expected to take place amid festivities celebrating the unprecedented visit by Egypt’s Olympic football team. Muslim members of the delegation will pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, while Hani Ramzy, the team’s coach, and other Christian members of the delegation will pray at the Church of the Holy Sepluchre, media sources said.
The Egyptian foreign ministry is aware of the match but is not involved in preparations by the Egyptian and Palestinian football federations, according to a diplomatic source. The source refused to comment on the kind of visas that members of the delegation will receive.
Sources at the Egyptian Football Federation told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the federation is hoping for the Palestinian National Authority or the Israeli embassy in Cairo to issue "security permits" for the football team to enter the West Bank by land via Jordan. That way, the passports of the delegation will not be stamped by Israeli officials, and thus any record of the visit can be eliminated, the source added.
Meanwhile, Major General Jibril el-Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Federation, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Egyptian team will enter the occupied territories using permits granted by the Palestinian National Authority, and not Israeli visas.
The upcoming match sparked considerable controversy among intellectuals and religious scholars regarding the concept of "normalization," and as to whether such a visit constitutes a "recognition of occupation" or a "necessary evil" to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Ibrahim Abu Awf, MP from the Muslim Brotherhood, called on Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to call off the team’s journey to Jerusalem and instead schedule a match between the two teams in Gaza.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
