Ryad (AFP)

On Tuesday, their national team will play a match in the occupied West Bank, requiring in principle a prior approval from Israel: but for Saudi supporters met in the center of Ryad, this gesture is nothing like a form of normalization with the Hebrew State.

"It's not a normalization, it's occupied Palestine, and for Saudi Arabia there's no state called Israel," says Saad, a 27-year-old fan at a coffee shop. Tahlia Street, the capital's main commercial avenue, facing the screens that broadcast a meeting of the selection.

After defeating Singapore (3-0) last week, the "Greens" will face Palestine on Tuesday, in qualifying for the World Cup-2022, a change of policy on the part of Saudi Arabia.

So far, the Saudis had indeed played against the Palestinians only in third countries, to go to the West Bank implying to ask a prior authorization to Israel, which occupies this territory since 1967 and with which Ryad has no relationship diplomatic.

Saudi Arabia refused in 2015 to travel to the West Bank to face Palestine, as part of qualifying for a World Cup already in 2018.

On Sunday, the Saudi delegation, with the exception of the players, went to East Jerusalem on Monday - part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel - on the esplanade of the Mosques, the third holy place of Islam. and the most sacred site for the Jews, who call it Temple Mount.

"It's a sports delegation that has nothing to do with politics," Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, general director of Al-Aqsa Mosque told AFP.

- "Basic Palestinian Cause" -

With rare exceptions, Arab athletes do not play in the Palestinian Territories and never meet Israeli teams.

But, in recent years, the Jewish state has multiplied attempts to come together with Arab Gulf countries, which Ryad is the most powerful. These two great regional allies of the United States would have secretly established links against their common enemy, Iran.

Officially, there is no mention of Israel: according to the Saudi Sports Authority, the decision was made "at the request of the Palestinian brothers" not to deprive their selection of the possibility of "playing at home in front of his supporters like other countries ".

"It is positive to support sport in Palestine given the situation there," agrees Saad, assuring that "the Palestinian cause is fundamental in Saudi Arabia".

For Hazaa, another supporter of the "Greens", the question of relations with Israel "is a political subject that has nothing to do with sport".

"For the Saudis or the Palestinians, the goal of the match is to qualify for the World Cup.The politics is another subject", slice the young man with his beard trimmed and wearing the traditional white plaid ghoutra and red.

Others, like Abu Abdallah, a 35-year-old businessman, see this "rare event" as having "political implications" ... but for the benefit of Palestinian "brothers", he says.

"The kingdom would not take any action that is not in the interest of the Palestinian people or Saudi Arabia," he insists.

- "Balancing exercise" -

In the Palestinian Territories, the visit of the Saudi team, arrived Sunday, divides. Some see it as a form of "normalization", others evoke a historic victory for Palestinian football.

Recognized by the International Federation (FIFA), the match that will be played at the stadium of Al-Ram, a city near Jerusalem, will not violate attempts to boycott Israel, says the president of the Palestinian Federation Jibril Rajoub.

As Israel faces a controversial Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) boycott campaign to protest the occupation and settlement of the territories, the movement believes that the arrival of the Saudis is part of the "context of a dangerous official normalization" of the kingdom with the Hebrew State.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also said "rejecting standardization through sport".

For Ofer Zalzberg, an analyst at the International Crisis Group's (ICG) think tank, Ryad is attempting a "balancing act" by discreetly approaching Israel while seeking to satisfy the Palestinian authorities, who have themselves said they would like to come of the Saudi selection.

"The Saudis are giving in at the request of Ramallah to play in the West Bank, in order to compensate for the (Palestinian) feeling that they are normalizing (their relations) with Israel," he told AFP, estimating that Saudi public recognition of Israel is unlikely.

Dressed in a white dichdacha (long male dress) and wearing a cap of the NBA, Majed, installed in a cafe Ryad, is categorical: it excludes normalization and requires the Palestinians "recover their territories".

This 38-year-old fan is suddenly enthusiastic about the first goal of the "Greens" against Singapore, before making a wish: "that sport promotes peace in the region".

© 2019 AFP