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 The Palestine Olympic Committee ( ar, اللجنة الأولمبية الفلسطينية) is the National Olympic Committee of the State of Palestine. The State of Palestine has been recognized as a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) s ...

, which has sent teams to compete at each Summer Olympics 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 ...

PLE. Palestine has been recognized as a member of the

Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. The current Acting President is Raja Randhir Singh, substituting Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah. The headquarters ...

(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, 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 w ...

, and Gaza Strip League. 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 qualifiers. They visited Australia for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. 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

Beit Jala Lions The Beit Jala Lions (Arabic:-لايونز بيت جالا) is a rugby union club situated in the town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem in the West Bank. The team was started in October 2007 by international rugby players and local guys and later encour ...

is a West Bank Rugby Union team. Ramallah hosts some of the best gyms in Palestine. The separation wall and numerous checkpoints has caused difficulty in movement for Palestinian athletes, however Palestinian athletes were still able to reach East Jerusalem sport centers as of 2009. The Turmus Aya Equestrian Club, established in 2007, is a riding club dedicated to the mission of providing affordable access to horses for Palestinians. Ashraf Rabi, the founder, maintains that "this is part of the development of Palestine. Horses are a big part of our Arab culture and we must embrace it." The Arab Palestine Sports Federation 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