In the moment of greatest happiness, the Moroccan internationals flew the flag, but not their own.

While still on the lawn of the Education City stadium west of Doha, Achraf Hakimi and his teammates cheered the quarter-finals with the black, green, white and red flag of Palestine.

Dozens of cameras clicked, the world public watched – and once again the World Cup in Qatar, which is supposed to be a tournament for the entire Arab world, became the stage for expressions of solidarity with the Palestinians in the conflict against Israel.

"There's clearly not much love for Israel in the Arab world," the Washington Post quoted Giorgio Cafiero, chief executive of risk analysis firm Gulf State Analytics.

In Qatar, which officially has no diplomatic relations with Israel, the World Cup hosts Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia played alongside.

In addition, Iran, which considers Israel to be its archenemy.

Palestine flags were seen at a number of games, during the game between Tunisia and France a spectator stormed the pitch with a flag.

The situation of the Palestinians is an issue that unites the people of the Arab world, said Zaha Hassan of the US think tank Carnegie.

The signing of the "Abraham Accords" led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries - including Morocco.

Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz congratulated the Moroccans on Twitter on Tuesday evening on their success in Qatar.

However, the Arab population is against a normalization of relations, said Hassan.

"The World Cup hasn't changed anything about this situation."

Qatar a Hamas ally

In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel conquered the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want the territories for a separate state of Palestine - with East Jerusalem as the capital.

"Ordinary Arabs oppose this occupation and see it as inhumane and unacceptable," Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of history and contemporary politics at Qatar University, told the Washington Post.

Qatar should be happy about the expressions of solidarity.

The Gulf Emirate is an ally of the Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and has taken up the cause of Israel's annihilation.

Every year, Qatar supports the coastal strip with amounts in the millions – for example for relief supplies.

However, Israel repeatedly accuses that Qatari funds are also being used for terrorist purposes.

"Palestine's presence at the heart of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar confirms that it is the nation's central theme and is present in the hearts of millions of our Arab nations and the free peoples of the world," said an EU-US spokesman Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization.

At the start of the tournament, the world soccer association FIFA and the World Cup organizers cheered the actually significant development that direct flights from Israel to Qatar were offered for the first time in order to bring Israeli and Palestinian fans to the games.

"Football has the power to bring people together, it transcends all boundaries and promotes unity like nothing else," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, pathetically as usual.

The reality on the streets of Doha looked somewhat different.

For example, a video broadcast by the public television station in Israel showed a reporter being shouted at angrily: “There is no Israel, there is Palestine.

You are not welcome here, this is Qatar, this is our country.” A local Israeli correspondent reported to the German Press Agency that Hebrew-speaking correspondents in particular have significant problems doing their jobs.

But it wasn't going to be violent.

Israel's Foreign Ministry recommended fans not to openly reveal their Israeli identity.

Qatar emphasized that the entry permit for Israelis has nothing to do with normalizing the relationship and is only temporary.

In Israel itself, the hanging and display of Palestinian flags is not prohibited, but the flags are usually taken down again by the Israeli authorities.

There are always confrontations.

At the World Cup, FIFA does not consider the flags on the pitch to be a political message, the Palestinian association is one of the 211 FIFA members.

In recent years, the conflict with Israel has regularly been brought up in lengthy debates at the general meetings of the world association.

Primarily because of the clubs based in the West Bank.

In general, tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have increased significantly in recent months.

Palestinians are killed almost every day in confrontations with Israel's military or in their own attacks.

The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has been idle since 2014.