The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) today dropped its call for the suspension of Israel from FIFA and instead proposed an amended version of a resolution, which was adopted by the FIFA Congress.
Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestinian Football Association, said a lot of his colleagues in FIFA (including UEFA President Michel Platini and South African anti-apartheid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale) had asked him not to press ahead with the motion.
The PFA president called for a mechanism of monitoring Israeli treatment of what’s going on on the ground. He said it was time to show the red card to racism and discrimination, “in Palestine and everywhere”. He asked the Congress to refer the issue of whether or not the five Israeli clubs located beyond the Green Line, which he called “racist”, should be allowed to play. “All sporting activities in the occupied territories should be banned,” Rajoub said.
It was proposed to establish a joint Israeli-Palestinian group including international observers tasked with monitoring the free movement of Palestinian players and goods and donations, and to discuss the question of the five Israeli clubs located beyond the Green Line and at whether or not this question should be referred to the United Nations. Sepp Blatter proposed that the committee should be chaired by Tokyo Sexwale. The composition is to be announced soon.
IFA President Ofer Eini supported the proposal for a joint committee, saying that Israel was in favor of peace and cooperation with the Palestinians. He said “we must not involve politics in FIFA." Addressing the Palestinians, Eini said: "I hope that our cooperation will be the beginning of a process that maybe will lead to peace between our peoples. I tell my friend Rajoub: let's leave politics for politicians and do the best football we can," Eini said.
He declared that the five clubs in the West Bank settlements were mainly youth clubs which should not be prevented from participating in soccer. Eini called on his Palestinian counterpart to shake hands with him, which Rajoub did after the congress adopted the proposal by 165 votes in favor, and 18 against.
World Jewish Congress and Jewish communities made Israel's case
In recent weeks, a number of Word Jewish Congress-affiliated Jewish community organizations contacted and met with the heads of their respective national soccer associations on this issue to defend Israel's membership in FIFA.
WJC President Ronald Lauder had appealed to the 209 member associations of FIFA to reject the initial Palestinian demand for suspension and urged them to reject what he called “a blatant and divisive attempt to misuse FIFA for political ends.”
Lauder said the issues raised by the PFA should be resolved through discussions between the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel, not within the forum of FIFA. Lauder added: “Boycotting a sporting country, or excluding it on political grounds from international sporting events, is not an appropriate way to foster friendship between nations, which is one of the main aims of international sporting competitions."
