Saudi football team coming to play against Palestinian team refuses to cross any Israeli border in order to prevent "normalization"
Official PA TV sports program Pulse of the Fields interviewed Tayseer Nasrallah about a football game between "Palestine" and Saudi Arabia:
PA TV host: "In today's program we will talk extensively about the game between the team of Palestine and the Saudi team, and which fate is still uncertain because of the stubbornness of the Saudi team and its management and their refusal to come here, to Palestine."
Spokesman of the Palestinian Football Association Tayseer Nasrallah: "Of course they have misconceptions about their coming here. They talk about normalization. In a meeting held yesterday between the Palestinian and the Saudi football associations, we clarified our position on the issue of normalization. That is the argument they presented to us, and we gave them two options. One option is that they come by land under the supervision of FIFA, so that their passports would not be stamped and so there would be no contact between them and the Israelis at the [Allenby] Bridge. The other option is that their arrival will be mediated by Jordan - and we thank the Jordanians for their efforts to solve this problem - so that they will go by plane from Marka International Airport [in Amman, Jordan] to Ramallah or Al-Ram and play. This is a flight of 20 minutes or so. They heard the point of view of brother Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association, and of our delegation who met them yesterday, and they, the head of the Saudi [Football] Association, the Secretary-General and the members who participated, heard our point of view and took it back to Saudi Arabia to discuss the matter between them. I hope there will be separation between sports and politics."
PA TV host: "In today's program we will talk extensively about the game between the team of Palestine and the Saudi team, and which fate is still uncertain because of the stubbornness of the Saudi team and its management and their refusal to come here, to Palestine."
Spokesman of the Palestinian Football Association Tayseer Nasrallah: "Of course they have misconceptions about their coming here. They talk about normalization. In a meeting held yesterday between the Palestinian and the Saudi football associations, we clarified our position on the issue of normalization. That is the argument they presented to us, and we gave them two options. One option is that they come by land under the supervision of FIFA, so that their passports would not be stamped and so there would be no contact between them and the Israelis at the [Allenby] Bridge. The other option is that their arrival will be mediated by Jordan - and we thank the Jordanians for their efforts to solve this problem - so that they will go by plane from Marka International Airport [in Amman, Jordan] to Ramallah or Al-Ram and play. This is a flight of 20 minutes or so. They heard the point of view of brother Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association, and of our delegation who met them yesterday, and they, the head of the Saudi [Football] Association, the Secretary-General and the members who participated, heard our point of view and took it back to Saudi Arabia to discuss the matter between them. I hope there will be separation between sports and politics."