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News > Sport

FIFA to Investigate Palestinian Allegations of Israeli Abuse

  • Palestinian soccer players say Israel impedes their movement.

    Palestinian soccer players say Israel impedes their movement. | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 July 2015
Opinion

Palestinian football players say Israel is being a bad sport.

A FIFA committee will begin discussing later this month allegations of Israeli efforts to impede Palestinian soccer players, according to reports Tuesday.

Palestinian Football Association head Jibril Rajoub said the committee will sit for the first time on July 28, according to Palestine's al-Quds newspaper.

According to Rajoub, the inaugural meeting is likely to be dominated by discussions on developing a solid organizational framework for conducting further investigations. He said he has been invited, and plans to attend. An Israeli representative is also expected to be present.

The FIFA committee was proposed by Rajoub in late May, after he ditched a motion to suspend Israel from the international football body. Palestinian human rights groups accused Rajoub of getting cold feet in the face of an international controversy sparked over the suspension motion, dismissing the committee proposal as a let-down.

Rajoub defended the move by arguing the establishment of a dedicated committee would be a “responsible solution,” to allegations of Israeli misconduct.

Israeli football clubs have been accused of racism, while Israeli authorities have faced allegations of impeding the movement of Palestinian soccer players, particularly at checkpoints around the West Bank. Israel has denied the allegations, and claimed the complaints are politically motivated.

The head of the committee, former South African politician Tokyo Sexwale, has said he hopes to reach an “acceptable solution” to satisfy both Israelis and Palestinians.

“This assignment regarding the tension between Palestine and Israel is no easy walk and shall have to be approached with sensitivity and circumspection,” Sexwale said in a statement.

Among the staunchest critics of the committee is U.K.-based lobby group Red Card Israeli Racism, which has dismissed the initiative as slanted in Israel's favor.

“FIFA also says that the prospective committee will have only three members (representing FIFA, the IFA and PFA - as proposed by Israel). This is not the multi-lateral committee of international observers proposed by Palestine, indeed it looks like a resurrection of the previous FIFA Task Force which was unable to secure positive change,” the group has stated.

“It seems to us that Congress procedures have been abused, and that FIFA is now pursuing the interests of one member (Israel) to the detriment of another. This can only result in stalemate and continued sporting injustices,” they warned.

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