Al Hajri netted two minute from the end of a scrappy encounter between two teams who had already secured their tickets for next January’s Finals in the United Arab Emirates.
Palestine went into the game with a three-point advantage thanks to their victory on home soil earlier in qualifying and a draw would have been enough for them to hold on to pole position at the completion of the qualifying schedule.
But a tepid performance from both sides suggested a draw was the most likely outcome before Al Hajri’s late intervention.
Mohsin Al Khaldi saw his goal-bound attempt clawed to safety by Palestine goalkeeper 12 minutes from the end of a tight first half as neither side created much in front of goal.
Ten minutes after the restart, Shadi Shaban smashed his shot from distance well over the bar, while a 72nd minute effort by Mahmoud Eid’s from long range met with a similar fate.
The game looked like it was heading for a goalless draw until Saad Al Mukhaini sent in his low cross from the right and the Palestinian defence failed to clear before the ball fell at the feet of Al Hajri and his scuffed shot just made it over the goal line.
The win moved Oman onto 15 points from their six matches, the same as Palestine, but Pim Verbeek’s team took top spot thanks to their marginally better head-to-head record in the meetings between the teams.