Ali El-Khatib

Ali El-Khatib (, ; born 18 March 1989) is a professional footballer who plays for Hapoel Umm al-Fahm. Born in Israel, he has represented the Palestine national team.

Club career El-Khatib grew up in the Arab city of Shefa-'Amr in Northern Israel where he played for local side, Hapoel Shefa-'Amr.

He was brought to Palestinian club Jabal Al-Mukaber in by the coach, Samir Issa, in 2012. While playing for them, a controversy erupted over El-Khatib's contract.

Hapoel Haifa had given him a trial after someone had informed the coach of El-Khatib's talents. He was then chosen to join the club after 5 or 10 minutes of his try-out.

However, the signing caused an outrage with his previous club, who alleged that he had three-and-a-half years left on his contract, resulting in them taking the case to FIFA after a Tel Aviv District Court denied their appeal. El-Khatib denied that he signed a contract with the club, claiming that they had forged his signature on the contract. The president of Jabal Al-Mukaber compared Hapoel's action to that of a horse thief under the pretence that they stole a player who was under contract.

Maccabi Netanya In June 2012 it was announced that Ali El-Khatib has joined Maccabi Netanya.

International career As one of a growing number of Arab-Israelis playing professionally in the WBPL and representing Palestine internationally . He stated his dream is to play for Israel, and also said "It would be wonderful if one day the Palestinian national team could play against the Israel national team. Then I would play the first half of the game with one team and the second half with the other team."

He received his first national team cap against Thailand in 2014 World Cup qualifying on July 23, 2011. He scored his first senior team goal in a friendly match against Bahrain, the 67th-minute goal proved to be the winner as the game ended 1–0. 11 days later, he scored his second goal in a crucial match against Sudan which secured Palestine passage to the 2011 Pan Arab Games semifinal.

Career statistics

Club

International As of 31 January 2012

+ # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Reports 1. 6 December 2011 Al Muharraq Stadium, Arad 1–0 1–0 Friendly 2. 17 December 2011 Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al-Rayyan 1–0 2–0 2011 Pan Arab Games

Honours West Bank Premier League Winner (1): 2009–10 Runner-up (1): 2010–11