Analysis:
New front emerges in the diplomatic battle as
Palestinians
demand world soccer body ban Israel
May
18, 2015 5:00AM ET
Winning
a fifth term in office will be a cakewalk for FIFA’s
oft-criticized
president Sepp Blatter, when measured against
the
challenges posed to him by the looming Israeli-Palestinian
showdown
in world soccer’s governing body. Blatter is
expected
to travel to the Middle East ahead of FIFA’s May
29
congress, hoping to forge a compromise between the
two
rival soccer associations to head off the Palestine Football
Association’s (PFA) bid to have Israel suspended from the
international
body. But he could struggle to keep the
game.
The
Palestinian resolution — which could gain significant
support
among member associations — is rooted in years
of
failed FIFA efforts to work out a mechanism between the
Palestinian
and Israeli soccer associations to address
complaints
that Israel’s occupation regime impedes the
development
of the Palestinian game, as well as
accusations
of racism in Israeli soccer.
The
move clearly coincides with mounting efforts to build
international
pressure on Israel’s occupation now that the
peace
process is dormant. The movement to promote
from
the tactics used to pressure apartheid South Africa in
the
1970s and ‘80s, and countering it is an Israeli
government
priority.
Palestinian
soccer officials argue that previous FIFA-mediated
agreements
with the Israel Football Association (IFA) that
involved
regular consultations and a hotline to resolve
problems
facing Palestinian footballers at Israeli military
checkpoints
in the West Bank have failed because the IFA
has
no influence on Israeli security policies. Those
problems
are largely related to the freedom of movement
of
players between Gaza and the West Bank — and
within
the West Bank itself — as well as on visiting
foreign
teams, particularly ones from the Middle East
and
Muslim countries.
Ironically,
perhaps, Israeli diplomats lobbying against
the
Palestinian resolution and the IFA itself in a meeting
with
Blatter earlier this month have echoed that argument,
saying
the Israeli soccer body should not be held
accountable
for restrictions on Palestinian football that
are
not under its control.
The
argument that the IFA should not be punished for
the
occupation is unlikely to impress PFA President
Jibril
Rajoub, a former West Bank security chief who
spent
years in Israeli prison and who sees sports as a
vehicle
to help end the occupation and achieve Palestinian
statehood.
Rajoub expects support from a significant
number
of FIFA member associations in Africa and
Asia,
as well as at least some European associations
that
have long been critical of Israeli policies towards
the
Palestinians. He’ll need three quarters of the
international
body’s 209 members to carry the day.
The
IFA, of course, is unable to influence security
policy,
but that may not sway the argument for
suspension
of the national soccer association of the
occupying
power whose policies impede Palestinian
soccer.
And other elements of the Palestinian case
could
resonate with many in FIFA. These include
assertions
of racism in Israeli soccer despite the fact
that
Palestinian citizens are among Israel’s top players,
and
the IFA’s inclusion of clubs from the Israeli
settlements
deemed illegal under international law
by
the U.N. Security Council. The Palestinians argue
that
including those clubs in the league effectively
amounts
to IFA endorsement of Israeli policy on the
West
Bank.
The
IFA prides itself on being the only Middle Eastern
soccer
body to have an anti-racism program, and it has
repeatedly
slapped the knuckles of Israeli teams that
have
violated antidiscrimination codes — particularly
Beitar
Jerusalem, which is notorious for its racist fan
base
and refusal to hire Palestinians. The IFA has not,
however,
imposed sanctions of sufficient strength to
dissuade
Beitar from maintaining its discriminatory
policies
and its tolerance of fans who wear racism
as a
badge of honor.
The
FIFA vote could be the first major litmus test of a
Palestinian
campaign to isolate Israel in international
organizations
since the breakdown of U.S.-sponsored
peace
talks and last summer’s
Ironically,
FIFA was the first international organization to
recognize
Palestine when it admitted the PFA in 1998 —
joining
Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland and
Hong
Kong, among others, as members that are not
internationally
recognized sovereign nation states.
The
PFA’s bid to get Israel suspended from FIFA is
closely
connected with the wider effort to isolate Israel
over
its policies towards the Palestinians, and its
prospects
will depend on the extent of support for that
campaign.
The
BDS movement was buoyed earlier this month
when
the Brazilian government decided not to move
forward
with a $2.2 billion contract with Israeli company
International
Security and Defense Systems (ISDS).
The
decision followed the cancellation late last year
by
the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul of a contract
with
Israeli company Elbit Systems to develop a major
aerospace
research center. Both decisions were made
as a result of campaigns by BDS activists.
Even
if the PFA fails this time around, many Israelis
believe
the writing is on the wall.
“Whether
or not the Palestinians win the vote is only
secondary
to the realization that this is just the beginning
of
the Palestinians’ diplomatic efforts to impose sanctions
on
Israel. The issue is not football or the freedom of
movement
of soccer players,” wrote Gershom Baskin in
the
Jerusalem Post.
“The
issue is much larger and will continue to emerge on
the
international stage on which Israel is now being targeted.
The
issue is of course the continuation of the occupation and
Israel’s
refusal to recognize the Palestinians’ right to
self-determination
in an independent state of their own
next
to Israel.”
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