Allowing players to move from Gaza has long become the exception to the rule that they are not to move out at all.
This reality was sadly displayed yet again last month when the Al-Mashtal club from Gaza tried to get permits to play the final match of the "Tokyo U-16 tournament" against the Ramallah first Group Club in Bethlehem.
Despite the efforts of the Palestine Football Association and UNDP to obtain permits for a delegation of 16 persons to enable them to be in Bethlehem on Monday, May 16, only 7 persons got their permits before their departure. The team had to wait at the Erez checkpoint for the rest of the permits, and when these finally came, the team found out that it will have to play without its Captain, and its coach.
The Tournament, jointly organized by the UNDP and the Japanese Representative Office in Palestine, ended in Al-Mashtal losing the match. Tears of frustration turned into tears of joy when the winning team, in an admirable show of sportsmanship, gifted the cup to the losing one.
