The announcement was made in a joint statement with Israeli president Shimon Peres during Rossell’s first visit to Israel and the West Bank.

Rosell says the launched the initiative “in the hope that it can serve to build bridges of dialogue between the two communities that can help lead to reconciliation between the two,” Rosell said.

The venue has not been decided, but the most probable choice will be Tel Aviv, which has the biggest capacity stadiums, accoridng to Israeli media reports.

After landing in Tel Aviv on Thursday, after a direct flight from Milan, the Barcelona directors headed for the Kfar Ha Maccabiah complex for a private interview with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres.

After speaking to the media, the Barcelona representatives visited the Isaac Rabin Memorial, in the square that is named after the Israeli politician that was assassinated in 1995 after giving a speech in favor of peace.

Rosell is due to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and head of Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub in Ramallah on Friday to promote the initiative.

Last year FC Barcelona outraged Palestinians for extending an invitation to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli occupation soldier who was held as a prisoner of war in Gaza for five years, to attend a football match against Real Madrid at Barcelona’s home stadium Camp Nou on 7 October.

According to the Spanish daily El Pais, the invitation to Shalit, who was freed a year ago in a prisoner exchange Israel negotiated with Hamas, had been solicited by an Israeli “ex-minister.”

“This invitation does not indicate in any way that [the club] Barca takes a position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” a club source told AFP.

Amid Palestinian anger, an invitation was also extended to a Palestinian Mahmoud al-Sarsak, who had recently been released having spent three years in an Israeli jail without charge  but he chose not to attend.

In a repeat of last year’s successful campaign, which saw the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) team up with FAO to raise over $400,000, the two organizations are once again joining forces for the 2012 “Asian Football against Hunger” initiative to generate funds for FAO-led projects targeting poor rural communities across Asia.

“The world’s hungry and poor cannot wait for our help. They need immediate and lasting solutions that will help them feed themselves,” declared Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

“Football is the perfect way to encourage people to team up and make a difference,” Konuma added.

As part of the initiative, football fans of the remaining eight teams in the AFC Champions League playoffs will be urged to donate in support of FAO projects.

From improving the nutrition of school children in Bhutan with a school garden to increasing incomes from bamboo plantations in Thailand, these projects operate at relatively low cost and contribute dramatically in the fight against hunger across Asia, where more than half of the world’s hungry reside.

“AFC and Asian football are fully behind the ‘Asian Football against Hunger’ campaign and we are proud to join hands with FAO in raising awareness of the importance of ending hunger,” said AFC Acting President Zhang Jilong.

The knock-out stage of the AFC Champions League, the continent’s most illustrious football competition at club level, will take place from 19 September to the final in early November when one of the participating clubs will be crowned continental champion.

The teams playing for the title include: Ulsan Hyundai (Republic of Korea), Guangzhou Evergrande (China), Sepahan (Iran), Adelaide United (Australia), Al Ahli, Al Hillal, and Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia), and Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan).

In a bid to enhance public protection and provide concrete support for Member States, over the last few months the Commission has been providing technical support and guidance to the Polish Police and Border Guards in training and developing the methodology for the use of mobile chemical and bio detection equipment to scan for explosives and terror weaponry at Polish stadiums and airports.

It is the first time that mobile detection equipment for explosives, chemical and biological threats have been deployed in the EU during such a high profile public event.

“This very first detection trial will provide valuable information for future use of such technology during large public events. With all eyes focusing on the ball, security at stadiums becomes all the more essential. The Euro 2012 must be a celebration where everybody can feel safe,” said Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs.

The use of technologically up-to-date mobile chemical and bio detection units will enhance security arrangements without additional constraints for football fans who will travel to Poland and gather in stadiums to support their teams.

Football fans can be scanned at the entrance of the stadium where usual security and ticket checks are carried out. The detection equipment, in the form of light weight portable electrical devices, will yield a result in real time, indicating whether any threatening substances have been detected or not on the clothes or belongings of the audience.

The result of the deployment of those mobile chemical and bio detection units during the tournament in Poland will provide Member States’ authorities with valuable information about how best to carry out threat-detection exercises in future major public events.

The Commission is expected to launch more practical trials of detection equipment in other areas of public security during the autumn of 2012 and the spring of 2013.