Boom for Palestinian Football is to score points for State-Washington Post

In 2007, FIFA forced the Palestinians to forfeit a World Cup qualifier to Singapore because they failed to field a full team after Israel denied permits to 18 players and officials from Gaza.

Rajoub said the restrictions persist.

“To this moment, no is the rule, yes is the exception,” he said.

But a number of players said the situation has improved from when it was common for players to get stranded abroad for months or stuck in Gaza with no way out.

Efraim Zinger, head of the Israel Olympic Committee, said he has tried to facilitate movement for Palestinian athletes, and military spokesman Guy Inbar said Israeli authorities decided in late 2010 to ease restrictions on athletes as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority.

“As a policy, Israel is allowing soccer players from Gaza to play in the West Bank in the internal league, and also to play for the Palestinian national team and go abroad for official games,” he said. Still, he added, “security issues” sometimes prevent travel.

Player Hossam Wadi, 25, hasn’t left the West Bank for his native Gaza since 2008, he said — even when he got engaged last year. He said he worries Israel won’t let him leave Gaza again, jeopardizing his team’s prospects.

“It’s a chance to play in the World Cup,” he said of his team’s first-leg match against Afghanistan to be played in Tajikistan on June 29. “We have to make sacrifices.”

The match is considered a home game for Afghanistan, which must play in a neutral location because of its own security issues. On July 3, the eagerly awaited second leg is set to take place in the West Bank — if Israel permits the Afghan athletes to enter.

The Palestinian team remains a long-shot to make it all the way to Brazil. Ranked No. 171 in the world by FIFA last month, the Palestinians would need to make it through a second preliminary round to even be included among the 20 Asian teams which get entered into the main draw for World Cup qualifying on July 30. When all qualifying rounds are over in 2013, four Asian teams will earn direct spots to the World Cup in Brazil, while a fifth advances to a playoff against a team from another continent.

Many see sport aiding the cause, even if the Palestinians don’t win.

“Palestinians can’t just be known as militants or for throwing rocks and burning tires or for shooting at Israelis,” said the federation’s technical director, Mazin Khatib. “We have to struggle too in sports to prove that we deserve to be an independent, sovereign state — that we love life and that we love to play soccer.”