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Bangladesh had to travel through Jordan and Israel before reaching Palestine and the same happened during their departure. They left Bethlehem on Monday at around midday and it took them seven hours to arrive in Jordan’s capital Amman, informed team manager Satyajit Das Rupu to Dhaka Tribune after returning home. The team had to stay in Allenby Bridge Crossing for three-four hours. The Allenby Bridge Crossing connects Israel to Jordan. “There were no hassles in the checkpoint like we had faced while entering Palestine. After crossing Palestine-Israel border, Israeli bus took us to Jordan border, which is no more than five-six kms. But we had to wait for three-four hours in Israeli border for the Jordan bus to arrive. We arrived in Jordan airport at 8pm and took our flight for Dubai at 10:10pm,” said Rupu.
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Bangladesh arrived in Palestine on July 17 and during their stay there, new Israeli security measures at the sensitive Jerusalem holy site paved the way for violence and riots. Rupu shared his experience. “There are different points in the city where the Palestinians usually protest. There is one point which was only 200-300 yards away from our hotel. After Israel decided to put metal detector at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, there was unrest at the point. After our first match, we had to return to the hotel through the back door. The roads were empty with no transports. There was a barricade around 100 yards away from the hotel,” said Rupu.