Raja Casablanca first Morocco football team to play in Palestinian territories

RAMALLAH: Raja Casablanca became the first Moroccan football team to play in the occupied Palestinian territories on Thursday.
But 28 fans of the club were denied entry to the occupied West Bank by "Israeli occupation forces", Morocco's MAP news agency said, quoting the country's embassy in Jordan.
Arab clubs and national teams have historically refused to play in the West Bank, where the Palestinian national team plays, as it required them to apply for Israeli entry permits.
This was seen as breaching a decades-long Arab boycott of the Jewish state over its treatment of the Palestinians.
But in recent years either clubs or national teams from Iraq, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain have all visited.
Others, including Egypt and Lebanon, still refuse.
Thursday evening's match was eventually won by Raja Casablanca, who beat Palestinian team Hilal Al-Quds 2-0 in the Arab Champions Cup.
The Moroccan giants had won the first leg 1-0 at home, with the team's supporters waving Palestinian flags and chanting songs supportive of the cause.
But on Thursday night it was not about winning.
"We consider we are winners due to the presence of Raja Casablanca," Hilal Al-Quds's sporting director Badr Makki said before the game started.
"But that doesn't stop us hoping to win and progress."
The game was played at a stadium in Al-Ram, close to Jerusalem.
"We are delighted to be in Palestine to represent Morocco," Raja Casablanca's coach Patrice Carteron told a news conference late Wednesday.
The Facebook page of Raja supporters said the team was "making history by becoming the first North African club to set foot on the holy lands of Palestine".
Palestine was first recognised by FIFA in the late 1990s but the team and organisation have grown in recent years.

Raja Casablanca first Morocco football team to play in Palestinian territories