Chilean football team to break siege of Gaza

Chile’s Club Deportivo Palestino football team will be the first sports delegation to break the Israeli siege and go to the Gaza Strip, the Head of the Palestinian Football Federation said on Monday.

In a press conference in Ramallah, held jointly with players from the club, Jebril Al-Rajoub said that Club Deportivo Palestino had played a pivotal role in spreading awareness about the Palestinian cause.

“The football club has contributed to raising awareness with its activities across North and South America and other regions as it plays in the name of Palestine and raises the flag of Palestine,” Al-Rajoub explained. “Like our national football team, which unifies Palestinians in the country and in the diaspora, Club Deportivo Palestino separated sport from politics based with its belief that sport is a unifying factor.”

Club Deportivo Palestino, which was established in 1920 by a group of Palestinian immigrants in Chile, is to play a friendly match with the Palestinian national team on Tuesday in Nablus International Stadium.