Qatar, the Gulf state that is home to al-Jazeera television, has made a multimillion-pound donation towards building a sports complex in Israel, it emerged yesterday. The gift – unprecedented for an Arab country – will provide a football stadium in the northern Israeli-Arab town of Sakhnin. The local team, Bnei Sakhnin, is the only club in the Israeli premier league with Arab players. The move reflects warming relations between Israel and the energy-rich Gulf state. At the UN last month, Qatar’s foreign minister praised Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and urged Arab countries to respond with new overtures.
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