As Israeli military raids continue across the occupied West Bank, the football World Cup is helping Palestinians in the city of Ramallah to forget their woes.
Although the national team narrowly missed qualifying for the competition, fans have been cheering for Brazil and Spain, as well as countries closer to home like Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Morocco.
And this football fever is improving sales of the different team’s balls and jerseys.
"There is, of course, a high demand for Brazil and a significant interest in Spain in terms of national teams, and there is Arab solidarity, of course,” said sport store owner, Motaz Ismail.
"This year there was a high representation of Arabs after they adjusted the number of participating teams, so you find there is interest too in the Arab teams,” he said.
