Syrian footballer to represent Israel on international stage

Syrian-born Amashe has answered IFA's call Golan-born Syrian footballer Wiyam Amashe is set to make his debut for the Israeli national team against Portugal next week, Israeli media has reported. However, despite giving in to pressure from the Israeli Football Association (IFA), the 27-year old has refused to accept an Israeli passport.
Amashe, who had repeatedly stated that he would prefer to play for Syria on the international stage, will feature for Israel in their 2014 World Cup qualifier on March 22 at the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv.
The striker, who plays for the Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Haifa, is currently leading the goalscoring charts. According to reports, his club manager Eli Guttman told Israeli footballing officials about Amashe's talent and helped persuade the player to become an international for Israel.
The Druze footballer has turned down an Israeli passport, meaning the IFA has been forced to obtain special approval from football's governing-body FIFA to allow him to travel with the team.
Amashe began his career at Israeli club Ironi Kiryat Shmona, where he scored 10 goals in 16 matches. His performance led to interest from Italian clubs, but he sustained a serious injury which forced him out of action for a few months. The forward then joined Maccabi Haifa on his return from injury.
Amashe had previously stated that he would like to return to Syria but that "circumstances" had stopped him from doing so. He also declared that he wanted to play for the Syrian national team, but the Israeli authorities had prevented him from visiting Syria and were opposed to him playing for the Syrian national team.
The forward said he was hopeful of a transfer to the Gulf, where he would hopefully be allowed to play for Syria. Amashe claimed that he had been pressurised into playing for the Israeli youth teams and would be "forced" to play for Israel's first team.
Former Dutch international Ruud Gullit believes Amashe is the rising star in Israeli football.
Amashe first picked up the ball in his hometown of Buqata, in the Golan, one of five villages that survived Israeli destruction after Israel had occupied the region in 1967. Until this very day, locals are proud of their Syrian identity and have refused to receive Israeli ID cards or passports - rejecting the Israeli law which annexes Golan to Israel.
Amashe developed as a footballer by playing for several small Israeli clubs run by Israeli-Arabs. The most prominent among these was the Nazarene club al-Ekhaa, whom he had helped gain promotion to the Premier League by scoring seven goals.
However, al-Ekhaa was relegated when Amashe suffered a serious injury in his first season in the top flight.  The striker soon left the club to join Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and led the Israeli outfit to promotion to the Premier League.