Fifa mum over Sexwale report on Israeli settlement football teams

WORLD soccer’s governing body, Fifa, has refused to discuss a report by Tokyo Sexwale, the head of the Israel/Palestine monitoring committee, on resolving the contentious issue of six Israeli soccer teams – from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank – playing illegally on Palestinian territory.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has been pushing for sanctions against the Israeli settlement teams as their presence on Palestinian land is in violation of Fifa Statutes that prohibit nations from administering football or basing their teams on territories belonging to another nation.

Sexwale’s rejected report was tabled following intense pressure placed on Fifa by Israel.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Fifa president Gianni Infantino at the weekend, asking him to remove the Palestinian demand to impose sanctions against the six settlement teams from the congress agenda.

Sexwale outlined three options for Fifa. The first was to maintain the status quo and continue to violate Fifa’s rules, the second was that Fifa would warn the Israel Football Associationand give it six months to suspend the settlement teams. The third was to keep negotiating, but Sexwale made clear that this was futile.

The Palestinians have been pressuring Fifa and its member states since 2015 to act against Israel over the settlement teams.They spoke about movement restrictions placed on Palestinian soccer players and teams when moving around the West Bank or trying to get to the occupied territory from Gaza. Similarly, Palestinian athletes continue to be often banned from travel.