"After decades of playing in exile, the Knights have finally come home. Muddy and bruised, FFT squeezed its way into their historic 2012 qualifier.
Palestinian football has come a long way since the country's FA (Football Association) was dissolved in 1948, after the creation of the state of Israel and the ISrael FA in its place. The Palestine FA was reformed in exile in 1962 and recognized by FIFA in 1998 - virtually Sepp Blatter's first act as FIFA president. As ever, Blatter's decision was not without controversy. You cannot have a national team without a representative state, said critics, but whatever you think of Blatter, he has always promoted football as an agent for social and political change. A national football team is as potent a symbol of statehood as a flag or anthem and Blatter encouraged Palestine's nascent team morally and financially while the world turned its back. As Palestine was rocked by the second conflict (intifada) with Israel, the Knights played football in exile, rising to 118 in the FIFA rankings five years ago. Palestine's women's team are currently in the top 100.
Now, with talks of declarations of statehood in the air, the Palestine team has come home. A friendly was played with Jordan in October 2008, but never have they hosted a competitive match until now. In June they will start qualification for the 2014 World Cup on home soil and the Asian Football Confederation has said that all matches involving Palestinian teams under its jurisdiction will be played here. "It's the story of a fight, a bureaucratic difficulties, and of kids loving the game," says the superbly-named Jerome Champagne, adviser to the Palestine FA and until recently one of Blatter's closest aides. "The Thailand match is very important, not only for Palestinian football, but for the fight to create a Palestinian state."
The significance of the team's return to home soil cannot be overstated. In the temporary capital, Ramallah, just a few miles from Gaza, normalcy prevades. You can buy a beer; watch a Champions League match in a bar. There is a five-star hotel. There are no guns. There is a determination to show the rest of the world that despite everything, Palestine is normal. Football plays a big part in that.
"Football is much, much more than a game," says Champagne. "Bill Shankly said football is more than just a question of life and death. Here, football is fundamental for kids to have fun, discipline and education. But it is definitely much more than just a game." In a hotel basement, the Palestinian FA president, Jibril Rajoub, is holding court. A bear of a man, he speaks in a curt, deliberate manner that demands attention, thudding his fist against the table for emphasis. He simultaneously glowers and mocks and charms. He tells FFT he hasn't slept in three nights, so busy is he getting everything ready for the game. The strain shows across his weathered face. "Politics has nothing to do with sport," Rajoub pronounces, but then embarks on a 40-minute lecture telling us why sport is so intrinsically entwined with the country's political landscape. "You will never meet a Palestinian without having involvement in direct or indirect political activities," he admits.
Rajoub is also a senior figure within political party Fatah - the largest faction of the PLO - and once served as Yasser Arafat's national security adviser. Aged 58, he has dedicated his life to the cause of Palestinian freedom and served 17 years in as Israeli jail. Here, he learned Hebrew and English and rose through the Fatah ranks on his release into exile in 1988. He says that violence is part of the past and that the Palestinian struggle has moved on. "The world has changed, what was good last century is not suitable this century."
One of Fatah's policies in the West Bank has been to implement a bottom-up approach towards statehood, improving the quality of life and building institutions. The belief is that by creating normalcy, the case for independence becomes irresistible. "It is a rational decision to expose the Palestinian cause through sport, therough football, through the ethics and values of the game," says Rajoub. "I do believe that it is the right way to pave the way for statehood for our people." With such high stakes imposed from the top, the burden of responsibility rests heavily on the young shoulders of the Palestinian Olympic team. But then few footballers understand their duties to their compatriots as inherently as Palestine's. "We have 100 per cent responsibility to paint a smile on the faces of each Palestinian man, women, boy or girl, wherever they are," says defender Nadeem Basem Barghot. He says Palestinians all over the world, including the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, will be tuning in to the game.
The players are paid just under £2,000 a year and put up in dormitories situated in the eaves of the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium. FFT is shown the accomodaions: it would be inconceivable to Europe's mega-rich stars. Conditions are basic, but the Palestinian FA are proud of how far they have come. Five years ago the stadium was razed by Israeli forces, the pitch used as a parking lot for tanks as they engaged in a major campaign of West Bank incursions.
Barghot says the team's "main problem" is harrassment and interference from Israel. For the Thailand game the Palestine coach Mokhtar Tlili called up 12 players from Gaza, but only 4 were allowed to cross over. "We don't meet all the time so don't have proper team harmony," says Barghot. "Other problems are when the Israelis don't give permission to leave the Palestinian territories [for matches]. We must wait for permissions before we decide the team." The players shyly deflect questions about their personal struggles under occupation.
According to left-wing Israeli human rights group B'tselem, 6,330 Palestinians in the occupied territories have died at the hand of Israeli security forces in the last 10 years. "Every player in the squad," says a Palestine FA official, "will have lost at least one family member, or know someone who has died in the conflict with Israel."
So that's the build up and the background, but what about the match itself? Palestine, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, tear into Thailand but despite creating several clear-cut chances, lack the craft and guile to score. The absence of their eight Gazan players is telling. However, it is one of those permitted to cross between the occupied terrirtories who makes a breakthrough shortly after half-time. Abdulhamid Abuhabib strikes a sweet 25-yard volley that soars into the top corner of the Thailand goal, sending the crowd into raptures. But as wind and rain lash the stadium in to second half, the players freeze. Hailstones pummel the open terraces and the crowd thins. Thailand have a man sent off, but the breakthrough will not come. In the dying moments of normal time, Abuhabib sends a diving header wide with the goal at his mercy. Extra-time beckons, and the temperature plumets further. As penalties near, we are joined in the press box by an unexpected visitor. "It it goes to penalties I'll be too nervous to watch," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad tells an incredulous FFT. "I'll look the other way." It gets even more surreal when a piper, dressed in bright yellow waterproofs like a trawlerman, joins us and leads the Prime Minister in a round of patriotic chanting.
Abuhabib might have spared his leader the pain of a shootout, but sends a spectacular bicycle kick over the crossbar in the last minute. Spot-kicks follow. Both teams score their first five, but Palestine miss both their sudden-death penalties and Thailand prevail 6-5. Afterwards the mood is bittersweet. Barghot, like several of his colleagues, leave the field in tears. But the belief lingers what has passed has a signifcance far beyond football. "Today was a political victory,but I wish it was a football victory too," says Coach Tlili. "The world now will see Palestine in different eyes - in sport's eyes," says Rajoub. " This is a new launch for the Palestinian people toward freedom and independence."
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Next up: Israel?
After years of conflict, hopes are high that Palestine will eventually meet their neighbors on the football pitch
Most of the world's great adversaries have come face to face on the pitch. Iran faced the USA at the 1998 World Cup in a tepid encounter. Iran and Iraq routinely meet, most recently at the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, as do Serbia and other remnants of the former Yugoslavia. Last year, South Korea pitched (unsuccessfully) to host the 2022 World Cup, with North Korea slated to host some matches. Israel have even played tournaments in Iran. But what of Israel and Palestine? Because they play in different confederations it is unlikely they will ever meet unless their two federations agree a friendly.
"As soon as the occupation disappears I don't see any reason not to have a friendly match between us and the Israelis," says PFA president, Jibril Rajoub. "Before the end of occupation? No way."
