Maybe it will be sports that finally brings peace to the Middle East.  Here’s a heart-warming story about two teams in the Israeli Football League.  We’re not talking European “football” here.  This is the American smash-mouth variety. (The league is being underwritten by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.) What makes this story interesting is that the son of a prominent Israeli security official recently played quarterback in a game against a team of Jewish settlers who happened to have  several Palestinian brothers who played linebacker.  Ynetnews reports:

The settler football team Judean Rebels, which lead the Israeli Football League after seven games, faced the league’s second best team – the Jerusalem Lions – on Thursday, in what was dubbed as the “game of the season.”

The star players who lined up on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage certainly added another dimension to the game. On the one side – Itay Ashkenazi, the son of outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. On the other – three Palestinians from Ramallah who will try to sack the Lions’ star quarterback whenever they get the chance.

“I separate football from everything else,” Ashkenazi, 31, told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily before the game. “On the field it doesn’t help me that my father is the army chief, and it’s not a big deal to me, just like I don’t care if the players on the opposing team are Christian, Muslim or Druze. I see them only as football players who are playing against me.

“Naturally, they’ll be looking for my head – to hurt the quarterback – because that’s how the game is played, but it is only about sports – and may the best team win,” he said.

The Palestinian brothers actually play on a team with Jewish settlers,  making it all the more interesting:

The brothers leave Ramallah several hours before each game in case they are delayed at IDF checkpoints along the way. “I really don’t mind playing for a settler team, as long as it helps me realize my dream of playing for a good college team in the US next year,” Ayoub said.

“Ashkenazi’s son? That doesn’t really concern us. We’re not into politics,” he said.

In the end the Lions won: 40-16.