By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – The landmark first meeting of the newly created FIFA Task Force set up to try and break the bitter divisions between Israel and Palestine over travel restrictions imposed in the West Bank and Gaza will be held tomorrow (September 3) at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
The high-profile body was announced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in July, following the mandate he received during this year’s FIFA Congress in Mauritius and his subsequent trip to the Middle East.
Blatter has acknowledged that something has to be done to solve the issue of Palestinian players being prevented from moving freely between the West Bank and Gaza for matches through border crossings controlled by Israel.
Among those invited to the Task Force are Israeli Football Association (IFA) President Avi Luzon; Palestinian Football Association President (PFA) Jibril Al Rajoub; FIFA Vice-President and President of the Jordan Football Association (JFA), Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein; and the Presidents of both the Asian Football Confederation and Uefa, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Michel Platini.
The inaugural meeting will try and find a way of steering a path towards facilitating the movement of players, referees and equipment in and out of, and within Palestine itself.
The Palestinians have long complained that Israel’s security forces prevent its athletes travelling freely between the Gaza Strip and West Bank, where the Palestinians have limited self rule but over which Israel maintains border control.
Rajoub has described the travel restrictions as a “siege on Palestinian sport” and says Israel should be thrown out of FIFA unless it stops discriminating against Palestinian athletes. Israel counters that it acts as it does for security reasons, given the number of rocket attacks from Gaza which is controlled by Hamas – committed to Israel’s destruction.
Last month, in the face of a public relations disaster and widespread calls for sanctions, Israel was forced to relent and allow an under-16 West Asian youth tournament to go ahead in Palestine – a full member of FIFA with the same hosting rights as other nations – after about 50 players and officials from visiting countries were initially denied entry permits including a large delegation from Iraq, plus players and officials from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The Palestinians are also due to host an under-21 championship in the first week of October.
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