By Mark Baber
May 13 – As of Monday morning, Pakistan’s football coach Bahraini Mohammed Shamlan was still waiting for a permit from Israel to allow him to join his team at the Al-Nakba International Football Tournament in Palestine.
Mohammed Shamlan has already had to sit out Pakistan’s first match against Sri Lanka, whilst some players from Jordan, Sri Lanka and the whole Iraqi team are reportedly also still awaiting Israeli permission to travel.
According to Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) secretary Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA have been informed about the problems, which follow the FIFA president’s promise to help Palestinian football to overcome the many problems it faces, including freedom of movement for players and coaches.
The Nakba tournament was scheduled to include the national teams from Palestine, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and kicked off on Saturday at the Dora International Stadium in the West Bank city of Al-Khali with a 1-0 win for the hosts over Jordan.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah inaugurated the tournament, which commemorates the Nakba or “Day of the Catastrophe” as 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes in 1948, saying it “is a very important means to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people by informing countries around the world about the suffering of the Palestinians.”
Last month, there were calls from some FIFA member federations to expel Israel over its treatment of the Palestinian football players and officials in the West Bank and Gaza. FIFA has set up a mediation task force whilst trying to put in place a formal agreement to settle the issue around the time of the upcoming FIFA Congress in June in Sao Paulo.
According to Saudi newspaper reports, Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, the executive president of the Union of Arab Football Associations, has claimed to have “spoken to FIFA President Sepp Blatter and heads of regional football federations about the difficulties facing the Palestinian people in the sports arena. As a result, FIFA has agreed to discuss the issue at its next meeting.”
According to the Prince: “Israel will be either expelled or suspended from FIFA if it does not apologize for its action against Palestinians and provide guarantees.”
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