Ronaldo scores with Palestinian fans

By Matthew Price BBC News, Ramallah

At times the security force could not hold back cheering fans

To be honest, it was chaos.

But then what do you expect when you invite one of the world's most famous footballers to a place most people judge too dangerous to visit?

Ramallah has known its fair share of misery. Israeli raids were frequent during the height of the Palestinian uprising.

While Yasser Arafat was alive he was besieged in his compound in the town by the Israeli army.

But on Monday, Ramallah welcomed a superstar.

"We're in ecstasy," one boy dressed in the Palestinian national football strip told me. "We never thought he'd come here."

And everywhere Ronaldo went, he was mobbed.

Goodwill ambassador

At times the security forces couldn't hold back the hundreds who wanted to see the star. He was jostled from location to location, shoved into his armoured vehicle, often lost in a sea of shouting supporters.

We love Ronaldo very much. We are happy that Ronaldo came here to help the poor Palestinian people Kifeh Palestinian teenager In pictures: Ronaldo's visit

Ronaldo is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. He was invited to Ramallah to visit UN youth and anti-poverty projects.

He also opened a new centre for disadvantaged youth - now named after him - in the town.

"I only wanted to say how happy I am to be making this visit and how proud I am to see everybody so happy around me." You could barely hear him for the chanting crowd.

"I thank you for this marvellous reception and I hope to return many more times, always on a mission of peace."

"I promise to talk about the Palestinian people when I go back to Brazil," he added.

Brush with stardom

Outside, after he'd moved on, surrounded by police, sirens, dust and cheering, smiling crowds, I bumped into a group of excited teenagers.

Kifeh, who is 15, had travelled through the West Bank checkpoints from his home in Hebron to be here.

He told me he and his friends watch Ronaldo play for the Spanish side Real Madrid every time matches are on TV.

"We love Ronaldo very much. We are happy that Ronaldo came here to help the poor Palestinian people and we love him."

For the people this was a brush with stardom. During four long years of the uprising they have been all but cut off from the world.

'Out of hand'

The only chance of seeing a man like Ronaldo was on TV. On Monday, he came to them.

At times he came closer to the fans than he may have liked, and presumably closer than the organisers planned.

Often his words were lost. He was so besieged by fans that he barely got to talk to reporters, to spell out the UN's message on Palestinian poverty.

The UN says around two-thirds of all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live on less than $2 a day.

There was little mention of that. Perhaps in retrospect the visit got out of hand. Simply too many people wanted to see Ronaldo, and there were too few security staff on hand to stop them surging towards him.

But that was just an expression of how excited people were to see him.

On Monday - just for a moment - the people of Ramallah forgot their situation, their tough lives.

They will not however forget this day for a long time.