Jordan Soccer Brawl Highlights Tensions with Palestinians

(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el - A skirmish broke out at a soccer match played Friday between the Jordanian league's Al-Faisaly and Al-Wihdat, in which 250 fans and policemen were injured after the wire fence that separates the spectators from the field collapsed. This was a political battle pitting the Al-Wihdat fans, mostly of Palestinian descent, against the Al-Faisaly fans, mostly of Jordanian origin. Al-Faisaly, which gets its name from the Hashemite King Faisal, is controlled by the important Adwan tribe, while the Al-Wihdat team, named after the largest Palestinian refugee camp, is controlled by businessman Tareq Khoury, who was elected to the Jordanian parliament in 2007.


2010-12-15 10:49:26

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