Barcelona decline to play in Jerusalem

BARCELONA: An Israeli football team said on Thursday it has called off a friendly match with Barcelona after the Spanish team declined to play in Jerusalem, a city that Palestinians want part of as their capital.

Beitar Jerusalem FC, an Israeli Premier League club, had previously reached a tentative deal to host Barcelona on August 4, a person familiar with the planning told Reuters, although neither club had formally announced the match.

Beitar owner Moshe Hogeg said in a statement he had decided not to sign the contract on the match because "I understood that the price I would have to pay is to boycott Jerusalem ... to lend a hand to those who come out against Jerusalem".

A Beitar spokesman said FC Barcelona had asked that the game be played in a city other than Jerusalem, whose eastern sector Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war and annexed as its capital in a move not recognised internationally.

An FC Barcelona source told that the game had never been officially confirmed and that there was now no plan to hold it. The Barca source declined to respond to Hogeg's remarks. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of a state they hope will include the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Agencies

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