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.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to an Egyptian request to cease all offensive operations in Gaza during the visit of the Egyptian prime minister there this morning, which is supposed to last for about three hours,” the official said according to Reuters.

Egypt’s PM Hisham Kandil arrived in Gaza on Friday morning, accompanied by a number of aides to the Egyptian President to explore the possibility of brokering a ceasefire.

However, the temporary truce comes after the Palestinian territory suffered heavy bombardment for a third day straight , with Israeli warplanes carrying out multiple new air strikes on the Gaza Strip, early on Friday.

The Israeli army said it had carried out 466 air strikes since it launched “Operation Pillar of Defence” on Wednesday afternoon with the targeted killing of Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari, according to AFP. The army added that 11 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel overnight, increasing the total to 280 rockets since Wednesday afternoon.

Gazans are concerned that a ground assault remains a possibility as troops and tanks massed near Israel’s southern border with the Palestinian territory as Israel has given the green light to the call-up of up to 30,000 army reservists.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s new Islamist president, having recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv in reaction to ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, Cairo is now attempting to mediate a negotiated truce between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel, according to state-run Al Ahram.

On Thursday, Cairo called on the US government to urge Israel to be more responsive to truce proposals. The US, however, has not made any promises to pressure Israel in this regard.

Mr. Erdogan, who twice last year scheduled and then canceled visits to Gaza, did not give any further details about when he planned to visit Gaza, which he mentioned to reporters traveling with him on a plane to Ankara, according to Today’s Zaman.

Mr. Erdogan’s comments came a few days after the emir of Qatar became the first head of state to visit Gaza since Hamas seized control in 2007, pledging $400 million for development projects.

The crown prince of Bahrain was also scheduled to visit the Palestinian enclave on last week but canceled at the last minute to avoid political repercussions, according to Arab news media.

Meanwhile, the United States on Friday voiced opposition to a planned visit to Gaza by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling it a move that undermines peace and security in the region, Xinhua news reported.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, remains “a destabilizing force ” in the strip and the region.

Nuland said Washington would have conversations with Turkey, a NATO ally, to “try to get a better understanding of what’s intended ” in the planned trip.

The U.S. and Israel see Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Erdogan has reiterated that reconciliation between Turkey and Israel was conditional on the lifting of the Gaza blockade.

Bilateral relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv collapsed in May 2010 after Israel killed nine Turkish citizens on board an aid flotilla trying to break the blockade on Gaza.

The Turkish premier says ties will not be restored until Israel apologizes for the incident, compensates the families of the victims and lifts its siege of Gaza.