RAMALLAH, WEST BANK // It may only be a football game and it does not even involve their own team. Even so, Palestinians will be eagerly awaiting the Algeria versus Egypt clash tonight in the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations, and support will be divided and highly partisan.
The game is a repeat of the two countries' highly charged World Cup qualification games two months ago, when violence flared causing Egypt to withdraw its ambassador from Algeria. The two countries have since mended relations, but a footballing rivalry that dates back decades will not be quelled so easily.
The rivalry has also spread to the Palestinian arena, where politics, as is always the case on the Palestinian street, has played a significant role.
"I used to support Egypt," said Mohammad Khaddam, 37, an unemployed engineer from Gaza City. "But since then I've been detained by Egyptian security for eight hours just for being Gazan and Egypt is now building a wall to starve us."
Tonight, Mr Khaddam, who spoke over the phone, will be watching the game at the Beach Hotel in Gaza and will be cheering Algeria. He won't be alone, he said.
"Gaza's ties with Egypt go back a long way. These don't disappear overnight," acknowledged Mr Khaddam. "There will be plenty of people supporting Egypt, but in Gaza now, thanks to the Egyptian government's anti-Palestinian policies, more will support Algeria."
And where Gaza goes, the West Bank will not follow. In Ramallah, the coffee shops and restaurants are already preparing themselves for full and raucous houses tomorrow. When Egypt beat Algeria in November to ensure a World Cup play-off game, honking cars with flag waving and cheering young men crowded the streets.
When Algeria knocked Egypt out two weeks later, those same streets were conspicuously quiet.
"There is bad blood between those teams," said Omar Habboub, 20, an accounting student at Birzeit University outside Ramallah. "And there will be trouble here tomorrow."
Mr Habboub will be supporting Egypt. He has always supported Egypt, he said, even though he has never visited the country. He said he understood the political context of the game and why some would support Algeria, especially in Gaza, but he dismissed the reasoning. "The wall [that Egypt is building along its border with Rafah] is the work of the Egyptian government. The Egyptian people have always supported the Palestinians."
Nevertheless, he also said that he expected that more people in the West Bank would support Egypt, partly as a result of growing tensions between Hamas in Gaza and Cairo.
"Even in football, Palestinians are divided," said Mr Habboub.
It is perhaps testament to the unique situation that Palestinians find themselves in that a football game featuring two foreign teams should not only be politicised, but be polarising and divisive.
When Egypt and Algeria engaged in a full-blown diplomatic row after their last two games, intellectuals across the Arab world derided the governments of both countries for being distracted by such a petty matter. Butheina Shabaan, a Syrian minister, even rebuked the two countries for letting the game divert their attention from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that, she said, Arab countries needed to unite to resolve.
But football cannot distract the Palestinians themselves, it seems, from their own domestic division.
Mohammad Olayam, 20, a fellow student of Mr Habboub's at Birzeit University, said it was hard for Palestinians to keep politics separated from other areas of life.
"We live in a political situation," said Mr Olayam, who will be supporting Algeria because it was where he was born. "For Palestinians, everything is politics. So everything, even choosing who to support in a football game, becomes political."
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The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
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Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.
Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.
Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.
Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.
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Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.
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