Reuters hails first “Palestine” soccer home game. But was it?
From Reuters:
Palestine celebrated their first official match on home soil on Wednesday during a bittersweet evening when their Under-21 side lost an Olympic Games qualifier to Thailand 6-5 on penalties.
The fixture was viewed by Palestinians as another symbolic step towards confirming their credentials for the state they intend to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“This is another occasion on which we can show we are a state, every time I come here it makes me proud,” Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Reuters at the Faisal Husseini stadium.
But in fact, Palestine had played at home over seventy years ago - and in a World Cup qualifying match, no less. It was between Greece and Palestine, and officiated by an Egyptian official.
From the Palestine Post, January 1938…