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8th January 2015
04:34pm GMT

Most of the players and coaching staff have been touched by tragedy, arrests and carnage during their lives. Midfielder Abdelhamid Abuhabib grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp. Jibril Rajaub, head of the PFA, was jailed for life in 1970 for allegedly throwing a grenade at an Israeli Army bus in Hebron. He was released in 1985 and later served as a national security advisor to Palestine leader Yasser Arafat.
In January last year, brothers Johar and Adam Halabiyeh were returning from training with West Bank’s Abu Dis Youth Club when IDF soldiers suspected them of throwing a bomb at their checkpoint. It is a claim the players reject to this day. The soldiers opened fire on both men - Johar was shot 10 times in the legs and had his knees broken. Adam was shot three times. Both spent much of 2014 confined to hospital beds in Jordan.
Goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh told The Guardian, upon the team's arrival in Australia for the Asian Cup, that five national team players had been banned from travelling.
Indeed, the team is without the goalscoring services of forward Sameh Mar'aba. He was detained in Israel last May following claims he was a messenger for Hamas (a Palestinian Islamic military organisation). His 30-day detention was extended eight times but no charges ever followed and he was released in December. By missing the Challenge Cup, however, he was not deemed eligible to travel to Australia.
@afcasiancup BREAKING: Israel denies Sameh Ma'raba the right to travel to Australia in order to join the national team ahead of the #AC2015
— فلسطين 24 الرياضية (@pal24sport) January 7, 2015
Palestine's qualification for the 2015 Asian Cup was met with scenes of revelry and flag-waving in both regions. It made news reports for sporting reasons.
The feeling of release and national pride lasted less than a month as Israel - citing military incursions and attacks from Palestine - laid siege to the state. Over the course of 50 days, an estimated 2,100 Palestinians perished. Palestine's Olympic committee believe 26 of that number were sportspeople.
Despite the adversity visited upon the team, its players see the Asia Cup as a further chance to make positive headlines.
'We're here for the Nation,' says defender Ahmed Mahajna. 'We're coming here to deliver a message through sport. We're ambassadors for Palestinian sport.'
The team's first game happens to be against reigning champions Japan. Also in their group are Jordan and 2007 winners Iraq.
Palestine are 500/1 outsiders to win the tournament but with the challenges they have overcome just to be in Australia it's hard to believe that even the eventual winners will emerge with a greater victory.