Palestinian volleyball teams will demand answers for a series of mistakes leading to the denial of registration for West Bank and Gaza teams in the 28th Arab Volleyball Championship.

The games, set to start on 23 February, will go ahead with neither the Senjil Club from the West Bank nor the As-Sadaqa Club team from Gaza because of a decision to send the official invitation to the Palestinian representative of volleyball teams in Jordan, who in turn was late in transmitting the details of the event.

The As-Sadaqa and Senjil clubs received the registration notice late, but sent their team lists in anyways, along with a note of apology explaining the situation.

Head of As-Sadaqa Club in Gaza, Jamal Abu Hashish, blamed the Palestinian Volleyball Federation for the mishap. "The program of the Arab Volleyball Federation is distributed to the regional clubs at the beginning of the year, they know we are supposed to receive the invitations in November and should have inquired as to why there was a delay when we still hadn’t received them in January," he said.

Several coaches at both clubs blamed the Egyptian league, which is hosting the tournament this year, but Abu Hashish said the anger was misplaced: "It’s the responsibility of the Arab Federation to accept Palestinian participation, not the host country."

The Arab Federation could still remedy the situation, Abu Hashish said, "If it just sent a letter to the host country obliging it to put Palestine in the tournament, there is still time, the draw has not yet been made."

I’sam As-Sus, deputy of the head of the Sinjil Sports Club, said the controversy was even hotter in the West Bank. Head of the federation’s committee of competitions Ziad Sabri published an article in the local paper, saying only the best Palestinian team would represent the nation in Egypt. Given travel restrictions placed on Palestinians, however, Sinjil and As-Sadaqa clubs only hoped to face off in Egypt as part of the larger tournament.

"We were in constant contact with the Palestinian federation, asking to get a letter from the federation affirming that the Sinjil Club will represent the northern districts in the championship," As-Sus said.

Without direct intervention the tournament will go ahead without Palestinian participation.

Ma’an/Ab