Palestine could be forced to pull out of Benin, Mauritania friendlies
Ongoing Iran War has led to the closure of Qatari airspace impacting Palestine's QSL based contingent
Sources have confirmed to Football Palestine that the upcoming friendlies against Benin and Mauritania are under serious threat of cancellation. It is understood that the Palestine Football Association is currently looking to solve the crisis but solutions are proving hard to come by.
Palestine have come to depend on a core group of players that currently play in Qatar. While it is assumed that Ataa Jaber (Qatar SC), Mohammed Saleh and Amid Mahajna (both Al-Rayyan) will not make the trip due to injury there are half a dozen players that were expected to get called up.
That list includes captain Musab Al-Battat (Qatar SC) and his deputies Tamer Seyam (Al-Shammal) and Rami Hamadi (Umm Salal). Also expected to be part of the squad are Michel Termanini (Al-Shammal), and Yaser Hamed (Al-Khor). There was also a possible return for Alaa Aldeen Hassan (Al-Gharafa), Mohammed Balah (Al-Shahniya), and Musa Farawi (Al-Arabi).
Air travel disruptions in the Gulf also could impact the call up of players who ply their trade further east such as East Bengal’s Mohammed Rashid and Malaysia based Odai Kharoub.
The most obvious solution for the Qatar based contingent would be to travel over land to Saudi Arabia and then fly from there to Morocco. The only issue is that Saudi Arabia requires Palestinian passport holders to apply for a visa- a process that could take over a month. Only Yaser Hamed and Michel Termanini, courtesy of their European citizenship, could to make that journey without applying for a visa.
Should the matches go ahead Palestine could be without several key players.
It was announced earlier this week that debut call ups are set to be handed to Francisco Politino (Lokomotiv Plovdiv) and Zacarias Abuhadba (Antofagasta).