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MEP SLAMS PALESTINIAN FOOTBALL BAN

28/ 8/2007

A North West Euro-MP has criticised a ban on the Palestinian Under-19 football team who were due to play in Blackburn next week.

The team should have started a 3-week training camp at Chester University but last week the British Consulate in Gaza said all the team members had been refused visas to enter the UK.

Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who hoped to watch the match when they played in Blackburn on Saturday 8 September, claims this refusal sends out the wrong message.

He said: "At a time when we should be trying to engage with ordinary Palestinians this decision only serves to isolate and polarise  feelings against Britain.

"We have to break down the barriers and if there is to be peace in the Middle East we should be building bridges and not shattering the dreams of these young footballers," he said.

Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament's Palestine delegation, has visited Gaza three times in the past 16 months and is one of the few British politicians to have met with the former Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

The team was due to play games against North West clubs including Chester FC, Blackburn Rovers, Tranmere Rovers and Cheshire County FA youth teams.