By Mark Baber
August 13 – The second leg of the historic cup final between Al-Ahly, the top team in the West Bank and Gaza’s champion Shejaia is back on after the Gazan team on Wednesday successfully crossed the Eretz border crossing into the West Bank.
A team from Gaza had not made the crossing into the occupied West Bank since 2007 and the second leg of Palestine’s Cup Final, originally scheduled for Sunday, had been postponed indefinitely after Israel denied entry permits to seven of the Gaza party, including four players, whom it demanded be subjected to questioning.
Restrictions on Palestinian football became a major issue at FIFA’s annual congress in May, with Palestine eventually withdrawing a demand to expel Israel over the issue in return for a promise by Israel to loosen the restrictions and for the formation of a FIFA committee to monitor the freedom of movement of Palestinian players.
The postponement of the final had been announced by the Palestinian Football Association, creating major worries over whether the understanding reached between Israel and Palestine, under FIFA auspices, would hold.
In the event, the players were delayed at the border for three hours as four of their number were questioned by Israeli authorities, but the whole party then proceeded on to Hebron where they will now prepare for the rescheduled final second leg to be held on Friday.
Whilst the winning team is scheduled to play in the next Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, the biggest winner is Palestinian football which, with the help of FIFA, appears to have won a measure of freedom of movement for Palestinian footballers denied the majority of the Palestinian population.
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