BICOM

The International Football Association (FIFA) has voted overwhelmingly not to hold a vote on a Palestinian proposal targeting Israeli football teams in the West Bank.

The decision was endorsed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and passed with 73 per cent of the FIFA member nations’ support at a meeting of the congress in Manama, Bahrain.

The resolution demanded that Israeli teams from settlements be removed from their league, and threatened Israel’s participation in FIFA tournaments.

In a statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem said:  “This was a victory in one battle of the campaign that is expected to continue in the months ahead.”

Earlier in the week FIFA had decided to remove the draft resolution from the agenda. In an official statement, FIFA said that “following the report by Chairman of the Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, Tokyo Sexwale, the FIFA Council considered that at this stage it is premature for the FIFA Congress to take any decision.”

Head of the Israel Football Association Ofer Eini has accused the Palestinian Football Association of trying to politicise the sport, arguing that the “sole purpose” of the resolution was to “establish political boundaries”, and pointed out that “it is outside the authority of FIFA to establish borders.”

The Palestinians have been pressuring FIFA and its member states since 2015 to take action against Israel over the settlement teams. They argue that the teams violate FIFA rules, which state that “member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval”.

On these grounds, they demanded that the settlement teams were shut down, and that a refusal resulted in Israel’s suspension from FIFA.

The Israeli government has argued that the settlements in question were built in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full security and administrative control under the Oslo Accords, and should therefore not be deemed unlawful.