Ataa Jaber’s winding road to Palestine’s national football team

Nationality switches are common in football, but very few might be as impactful as Ataa Jaber’s decision to pursue an international career with Palestine.

The midfielder, who currently plies his trade in Neftchi Baku in Azerbaijan’s topflight, made his Palestine debut in June.

Al-Fida’i has been trending in an upward direction over the past decade. In January, the team will compete at their third straight Asian Cup finals having first qualified for the 2015 edition.

Palestine celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first official game in July, but that short tenure among FIFA’s recognized nations belies rich history with the game. The first football match played in the country was in 1908 when the teams of Rawdat Al-Ma’aref and St. George’s School faced each other.

Twenty years later, Mandatory Palestine would join FIFA and although regarded as a precursor for the Israeli national team, the federation was only allowed to join thanks to the presence of Ibrahim Nusseibeh — a Palestinian and the only qualified referee in the country.

When Palestine was finally allowed to join FIFA after 70 years in international wilderness and multiple rejected applications, there was a decision to make about how the national team programs would be staffed.

The Palestinian Football Association decided to support its nascent league by calling up its best players to represent the nation. At the time, there were many Palestinian footballers (descendants of those Palestinians who managed to avoid the ethnic cleansing campaigns of 1947-48) playing in the first and second tiers of the Israeli football leagues, but depending on an external — and sometimes hostile — organization to provide players was seen as too risky.

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