By Andrew Warshaw
November 26 – Palestinian and Israeli football officials will meet face-to-face next month in the latest attempt by FIFA to broker some kind of trust between the two sides and create a platform for meaningful dialogue.
Amid persistent reports that Palestinian players and officials are routinely prevented by Israel from travelling freely, Israeli forces are said to have entered PFA headquarters on Monday to conduct a search of the premises.
The Palestinian side said it had received a letter of support afterwards from FIFA president Sepp Blatter but this could not be immediately confirmed.
FIFA have now issued a statement which said Blatter was “very sad to learn about an incident involving Israeli army force that happened yesterday at the headquarters of the PFA. FIFA is committed to continuing its efforts to facilitate the relationship between the PFA and the Israeli FA.”
FIFA set up a task force last year to try and improve relations between the two sides and a joint meeting has now been scheduled for December in Morocco on the fringes of the FIFA executive committee meeting.
The Asian Football Confederation reacted angrily to the Israeli raid, with its president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa denouncing it as “intolerable and unacceptable.”
“The AFC President stated that the military breaking into the PFA headquarters is a dangerous precedent that requires the international sporting family to stand together and support the PFA in standing up to the systematic violations of the Israeli authorities.”
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that soldiers had entered the premises but only to gather identification documents rather than any action directed at the Palestinian FA.
“Soldiers went into the offices in order to gather the identification documents only, their presence was not aimed against the Palestine FA in any way,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734945721labto1734945721ofdlr1734945721owedi1734945721sni@w1734945721ahsra1734945721w.wer1734945721dna1734945721