By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has openly criticised the decision to force Palestine to play a couple of key World Cup qualifying games on neutral ground.
Prince Ali’s native Jordan has been staging “home” games for the Palestinian national team after FIFA ruled that the West Bank was not safe.
The ruling was taken by the FIFA emergency bureau headed by AFC president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout. They reviewed an initial decision after protests by the Palestinians, but came up with the same ruling following the refusal of the Palestinian government to provide FIFA with a security guarantee for the visiting teams. But Prince Ali is adamant it broke a key principle arguing that no similar moves have been taken in other countries where there is a security threat.
“As we have seen in the last few days because of a horrible incident (in Paris) that happens you do not take football away from a country,” Prince Ali told reporters. “Nobody would debate whether France can host a game tomorrow and the same should apply in other countries in the world.”
“Out of principle you do not let violence succeed in any way regardless of wherever you are in the world.”
The Palestinians have reacted furiously at having to move games against Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to neighbouring Jordan, saying they only agreed reluctantly because of undue pressure brought to bear by the Saudis, politicising the dispute further in a region already split by political infighting.
“I support playing in the West Bank and I support playing in any country in the world that can host (games),” Prince Ali said. “Before I have supported playing in Iraq … I would have liked for (the Palestinian game) to be played in Palestine – it wasn’t.”
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