Palestine first competed at the Summer Olympics in 1996. The

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

is represented on the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

by the Palestine Olympic Committee, which has sent teams to compete at each

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

since 1996 under the

IOC country code The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses three-letter abbreviation country codes to refer to each group of athletes that participate in the Olympic Games. Each geocode usually identifies a National Olympic Committee (NOC), but there are s ...

PLE. Palestine has been recognized as a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since 1986, and the

(IOC) since 1995. The Palestinian Olympic committee did not work with the Israeli Olympic committee to train for the

2012 Olympic games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and participation in the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

has been described as the national sport of Palestine. There is a

West Bank Premier League The 2010–11 season marked the creation of the first professional league in the territories and saw high-profile signings for many clubs. Most notably Fadi Lafi (Hilal Al-Quds), Hernán Madrid (Wadi Al-Nes), and many Arab citizens of Israel wh ...

, and

Gaza Strip League Gaza Strip Premier League ( ar, الدوري الممتاز الفلسطيني لقطاع غزة) is one of the two top divisions organized by the Palestinian Football Association. The other is the West Bank Premier League. It has been disputed ...

. The

Palestine national football team The Palestine national football team ( ar, منتخب فلسطين لكرة القدم), controlled by the Palestinian Football Association, represents Palestine in association football. The squad is governed by the Asian Football Confederation ...

played Afghanistan in the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifiers. They visited

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

. Some girls' schools have incorporated football into their curricula. Prior to the creation of Israel, dozens of Palestinian sport clubs were active, however the 1948 war brought most of these to a closure. The infrastructure of some more contemporary Palestinian sport associations have also been demolished by the

Israeli government The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governmen ...

. The Beit Jala Lions is a West Bank Rugby Union team. Ramallah hosts some of the best gyms in Palestine. The

separation wall A separation barrier or separation wall is a barrier, wall or fence, constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate peoples or cultures. A separation barrier that runs along an internationally recogni ...

and numerous

checkpoints Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary cont ...

has caused difficulty in movement for Palestinian athletes, however Palestinian athletes were still able to reach

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...

sport centers as of 2009. The

Turmus Aya Equestrian Club The Turmus Ayya Equestrian Club is an equestrian club in the town of Turmus Ayya, between Ramallah and Nablus in the Palestinian territories. The club was founded by Ashraf Rabi in 2007.Arab Palestine Sports Federation The Arab Palestine Sport Federation (APSF; ar, الإتحاد الرياضي العربي الفلسطيني, al-Ittihad al-Riadi al-'Arabi al-Filastini) was a governing body of sport activities for Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. The fed ...

was established in 1931 and re-established in 1944. The first wave of the federation was from 1931 to 1937, then again from 1944 to 1948. There were many different clubs and gyms from all over Palestine that were considered to be a part of the Federation. The main games that the Arab Palestine Sports Federation supported were football and weightlifting. In 1948 when the federation failed, sport was not widely practiced throughout the region. Failure is credited to lack of resources and athletes in the area. After the failure of the federation, boxing became a phenomenon in Palestine. Boxing was brought to the region by British soldiers. While the soldiers were invading tournaments were held around the area.

References

{{Palestine topics Sport in the State of Palestine Palestinian territories

See also

References