When politics and sports mix

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BEERSHEBA, Israel, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A delegation of British lawmakers arrived in Israel to play cricket and learn about the region, officials said.

The nine British lawmakers, all members of the Lords and Commons Cricket Club, plan to mix both the sport and politics during their four-day stay in Israel, coordinated by the Israel Cricket Association and the Conservative Friends of Israel, Haaretz said Thursday.

Stuart Polak director of the Conservative Friends of Israel said while Israel is not considered a cricket powerhouse, organizers thought it would be "a great way to expose the [members of Parliament] to Israel."

The visit was the brainchild of British MP Nigel Adams who visited Israel last year, the daily said.

The group arrived in Israel Wednesday, and were conduct a cricket workshop at a school in a Bedouin town in the Negev and play a match Thursday. They were also scheduled to play a match with Israeli and Palestinian children in Beersheba who belong to the Cricket4Peace, a cross-border tolerance-building program. The British lawmakers also were to visit Sderot and receive an update on the security situation, tour Jerusalem's Old City and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, the paper said.