Campaign stalls demolition of Palestinian youth football pitch (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In a divided land cut through by Israel's wall, almost everything's contested, including this patch of artificial turf, a football ground for Palestinian children. In November, the Israeli authorities placed this notice on the gate, declaring the pitch to be illegal, followed soon by a demolition order. The facility provides training to a few hundred kids from the cramped streets of the nearby refugee camp, populated by the Palestinian descendants of those who were forced or fled from their homes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

[00:00:33] Speaker 2: What did you think when you heard they were going to tear this football pitch up?

[00:00:40] Speaker 3: I was upset. This is a field I really care for. We don't have anywhere to play. Here we are building our dreams. If they demolish the field, they will demolish our dreams.

[00:00:53] Speaker 1: Now a high-profile campaign to save the club, including social media videos, a petition with hundreds of thousands of signatures, and the reported intervention of football's governing bodies appears to have worked. The BBC understands that a political decision has been made to postpone the demolition order, at least for now, but the club remains cautious, pointing out that it's received no official notification that anything's changed. It believes Israel's objection is about far more than just the question of permits.

[00:01:25] Speaker 3: The Israelis didn't want us to have any kind of hope, didn't want us to have an opportunity, and the moment that we lose hope and opportunity, we are going to leave. This is the only explanation for us.