FIFA and Germany helped finance a soccer stadium in the Palestinian territories. But

[Modbert]

FIFA and Germany helped finance a soccer stadium in the Palestinian territories. Now that it is almost complete, Israel has decided to tear it down

What does Israel have against a Palestinian stadium? - Haaretz - Israel News

FIFA, the international soccer federation, financed the stadium as part of a larger program to promote Palestinian soccer. The stadium covers 11 dunams (2.75 acres) and will hold 8,000 seats. An Israeli contractor, in partnership with a Dutch company and a Palestinian subcontractor, constructed the field.

In October 2008, when the field was ready, FIFA president Joseph Blatter and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad laid the cornerstone for the stadium. The governments of France and Germany are paying for the construction of stands. The outer wall, the lighting and the scoreboard are being financed by the Al-Bireh municipality, which owns the land and within whose jurisdiction the stadium is located

A German source has told Haaretz: "This could become a major diplomatic issue between Germany and Israel. Just imagine: A German-financed project being torn down. It would definitely be a political scandal."

Ziv Nishri, the Israeli contractor who built the field, said in a telephone conversation: "The army knew about the project because it's impossible to do anything without the Civil Administration's approval. FIFA is the body dealing with the foreign minister. Without the umbrella of the Foreign Ministry, the army and the Civil Administration, nothing would be happening here."

When Nishri heard about the stop-work order this week, he was very surprised. "The plans for the stands are at least two years old. Even before we started on the project, I had the general plans for the stands, because we designed the field to fit them.

Thoughts?

Though this fits in perfectly:

 

[Oddball]

What, is this some kind of attempt to make Brit socce...um...."football" hooligans look tame in comparison?

 

[Modbert]

What, is this some kind of attempt to make Brit socce...um...."football" hooligans look tame in comparison?

I'm not sure. I have never heard of such a thing before in tearing down a stadium like this.