A Palestinian proposal to have the Israeli Football Association (IFA) suspended from the international governing body FIFA next month has Israeli officials worried.
A motion sponsored by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) last month is expected to be put to a vote at the FIFA Congress in Zurich, Switzerland next month, and although it would need a 75-percent majority of delegates to pass, Israeli officials fear that their country could face suspension from all international soccer tournaments.
IFA Chairman Ofer Eini is to discuss the matter with European soccer's governing body UEFA on Monday and senior officials at FIFA in a week's time.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said earlier this month he would try to persuade the PFA to withdraw the proposal when he met with PFA President Jibril Rajoub in Cairo .
Rajoub has accused Israel of continuing to hamper the PFA's activities and is frustrated at restrictions he says Israel imposes on the movement of athletes between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He also raised a number of other issues.
Israel cites security concerns for travel restrictions it imposes but says it has eased travel for Palestinian athletes between the territories, which requires passage via Israel.
Two years ago, Blatter established a task force which included himself, the Israeli and Palestinian soccer chiefs and the heads of the European and Asian soccer confederations, to examine the Palestinian complaints and try to resolve them.
Last year Blatter persuaded Rajoub to drop a similar call at the FIFA Congress in São Paulo ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Last month, however, Rajoub said he had lost patience, and called on FIFA to show Israel "the red card". The Palestinian draft resolution calls for Israel's suspension because its actions "inhibit our ability to develop the game".
