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By Ali Sawafta
RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 5 (Reuters) - Palestine will host African champions Egypt next month in probably their highest profile match on home soil at their main stadium near Jerusalem, the Palestinian FA chairman said on Sunday.
The Egyptian FA, however, confirmed it had received an invitation but said it had not yet decided whether to accept.
In detailing the national team's upcoming schedule, Palestinian FA chairman Jibril Rajoub also said Palestine would play an away friendly against Iraq in Arbil on Friday and would then travel to Beijing where they will play China on July 18.
"I'm announcing today that Egypt will be coming to play against Palestine on Aug. 8," Rajoub told reporters.
Egyptian FA chief Samir Zaher told Reuters a decision on whether they would play Palestine would be made after Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Rwanda.
"We are considering the invitation we received to play against the Palestinian national squad but we have also an offer to hold a training camp in China or playing against Togo," Zaher said.
Palestinians finally got to play international soccer on home soil last October when they drew 1-1 with Jordan in front of packed stands at their new 6,500-seat stadium in the occupied West Bank town of al-Ram, near Jerusalem.
Previously, they had to play all their matches abroad, mainly in the Gulf, because FIFA, world soccer's governing body, deemed the Palestinian territories unsafe to host visiting teams.
Palestinian soccer saw the start of a revival in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, last August with the relaunch of a semi-professional league suspended after a violent Palestinian uprising against Israel erupted in 2000.
Teams from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel since the Islamist group seized the coastal territory in 2007, do not take part in league matches.
The modern Palestinian FA which represents Palestinian Arabs was affiliated by FIFA in 1998 and competes in World Cup qualifying in Asia. The original Palestinian FA founded in 1928 was succeeded by the Israeli FA after Israel's founding in 1948.
