By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – In an unprecedented off-the-field success for Palestinian football over its Israeli neighbour, FIFA has ordered Israeli premier league club Hapoel Haifa and their former player, Ali Khatib, to compensate Palestinian side Jabal al-Mukabbar after Khatib broke his contract with them.
Jabal al-Mukabbar, based in Arab East Jerusalem, claimed that Israeli-born Khatib, a former Palestinian international, walked out on them in 2012 to join Hapoel.
Documentation covering the case seen by Insideworldfootball, which stretch to several pages and over 70 paragraphs, confirm that FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber has ruled Hapoel and Khatib must jointly pay Jabal al-Mukabbar 450,000 Israeli shekels ($113,500).
The dispute was particularly hard to resolve because Israel are members of UEFA while the Palestinians are members of the Asian Football Confederation.
Although Khatib was born in the Arab town of Shfaram,he has spent most of his career in Israel. But between 2009-2012 he played for Jabal al-Mukabbar and Hilal al-Quds, another Palestinian club based in East Jerusalem.
He currently plays for Israeli second division side Ahi Nazareth, an Arab team, and has six caps for Palestine.
The case was heard on February 19 and the various parties notified a week later, according to the afore-mentioned documentation. It is understood that Jabal al-Mukabbar was represented by a firm of Tel Aviv-based Israeli lawyers which makes the case even more unique.
Signed by Markus Kattner, FIFA’s deputy general secretary, the findings of the dispute resolution chamber said Alu Khatib must pay up within 30 days plus five percent interest per annum and that Hapoel Haifa were jointly liable.
That time scale has now expired and it is not known whether the relevant compensation has been paid. If not, the matter was to be forwarded to the FIFA disciplinary authorities pending any appeal.
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