PA official adamantly rejects football match against Israel
“[Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril] Rajoub described the extent of pressure put on him personally so that a joint tripartite match would take place to join together the Catalonian team, Palestinian players and Israeli players. He emphasized that he had insisted all along that the match be Palestinian-Catalonian only.
He said: ‘Many people pushed towards [FC Barcelona player Lionel] Messi, Muhammad and Shlomo [stereotypical names for an Arab and a Jew] playing in a joint match, but we didn’t agree and we will never agree to anything other than Messi and Muhammad playing in a way that will reflect the glory of our nation, despite its daily suffering.’”
He said: ‘Many people pushed towards [FC Barcelona player Lionel] Messi, Muhammad and Shlomo [stereotypical names for an Arab and a Jew] playing in a joint match, but we didn’t agree and we will never agree to anything other than Messi and Muhammad playing in a way that will reflect the glory of our nation, despite its daily suffering.’”