By Andrew Warshaw
May 18 – As Sepp Blatter engages in a final piece of shuttle diplomacy in an attempt to stop Palestine officially calling for Israel’s suspension from world football, the Palestinians have sent their proposed resolution to all 208 other FIFA members to counter what they claim are “distorted” allegations regarding the reasons behind the proposal.
Blatter is believed to be flying to the region to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to try and achieve a breakthrough to end the long-running dispute over freedom of movement of Palestinian players and equipment between Gaza and the West Bank.
For the last two years, Blatter has just done enough to avert the crisis coming to the fore at the FIFA Congress but the Palestine Football Association president Jibril Rajoub has run out of patience.
Rajoub and his Israeli counterpart Ofer Eini recently met at Blatter’s request in Zurich but without any sign of a compromise. The Israelis insist they cannot influence the country’s security policy in the region and have denounced Rajoub for mixing politics with sport.
To counter this, Rajoub has sent the resolution, the wording of which isn’t attached to the May 29 Congress agenda even though the proposal itself is a specific item, plus a strongly worded letter of explanation, to all the other 208 FAs.
“Once again, unfortunately, and on behalf of the whole Palestinian football community, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) had no other choice but to submit a proposal to the FIFA Congress to address the problems we have been facing for years since we became a member of FIFA in 1998, in order to develop the game and to obtain the full implementation of the FIFA Statutes, its principles, rights and obligations,” Rajoub writes.
“I am sure that you have heard, read and been told a lot about what the PFA is trying to achieve. That it is a political move. That it is motivated by extremism. That it is distorting the reality.”
Stepping up the war of words, Rajoub blamed Israel’s “intransigence” for the breakdown of mediation talks insisting his organisation had tried to be as accommodating as possible.
“But you all know the situation existing in the region for more than 60 years and I do not need to elaborate. The PFA has plenty of ground and proven examples to complain about.
“Allow me to put the record straight. Yes, we obtain some permits to enter and come back. Yes, we receive permits to import donated football equipment. Yes, foreign teams visit us.
“But let’s look at some unquestionable examples and the conditions on how these permits are either authorized or refused, among so many other examples:
‐ In the past years, FIFA and confederation officials have been stopped for no reason at borders and checkpoints. Even the FIFA President in 1999 and 2008 and the UEFA President faced this experience. A few months ago, A FIFA Zurich‐based official was stopped six hours at the entrance into the Gaza Strip while he was given all permits and his mission had been properly notified in advance.
‐ Successive coaches of our national teams could not ‐ and still cannot ‐ call on players from Gaza to come to the West Bank for simple training camps.
‐ The PFA Deputy General Secretary based in Gaza was denied a permit to attend the FIFA Congress in Brazil last year without any explanation and more surprisingly in spite of the fact that he had previously received these permits without a problem.
‐ The location of FIFA Goal projects to build artificial fields in Palestine had to be changed many times due to Israeli decisions, not to mention the fact that building was stopped temporarily on various projects without notification and due to pressure of Israeli settlers’ groups supported by the Israeli army.
‐ The import of donated equipment has been retained during months for administrative reasons by the Israeli customs authority.
‐ Regarding the foreign teams and officials coming to Palestine for FIFA and/or AFC competitions and/or official missions, arbitrary is the rule.
– And last but not least, the PFA has to present the permit requests 35 days before a match, a deadline which is inconsistent with the football internationally‐accepted practices and regulations in that matter as well as totally incompatible with the sport management of players (choice given to the coaches to select the players, last‐minute substitution of players due to injury).
“Our aim is to stop the suffering of our footballers and ensure that Palestinian football is allowed to benefit from the rights and carry out the obligations enshrined in the FIFA statutes.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734866590labto1734866590ofdlr1734866590owedi1734866590sni@w1734866590ahsra1734866590w.wer1734866590dna1734866590
