Zurich: Fifa says the Palestinian soccer association will not host two World Cup qualifying matches this month for security reasons.
The decision followed meetings Tuesday in the Palestinian territory “after which the Palestinian government confirmed that it could no longer guarantee the safety and security around the matches in question.”
A home match against Saudi Arabia, originally scheduled for last month and then Thursday in Ramallah, has been postponed a second time.
The Saudi association had refused to play in Ramallah, seeming to want to avoid going through Israeli security checks.
Fifa says the match will now be played Monday and the Palestinian federation will “provide details on the neutral ground in Asia” to host it.
A November 12 qualifying match against Malaysia will also be played on neutral ground. Earlier, Malaysia had written to Fifa three times to request the November 12 Group A match be moved to a neutral venue after a month of violence in the Palestinian territories, but minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the fixture would now go ahead as planned.
“I am confident that they can go to Palestine. I have communicated with the Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia and he has given his assurance of safety for our team in Hebron,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
“I, myself, have received a personal assurance from the Palestinian ambassador and he will personally accompany our team from the border to the stadium.
“He said the Palestine government will facilitate our team’s passage through checkpoints controlled by the Israeli regime,” Khairy added.
