Israel Sidelines Palestinian Soccer Players
The head of the Palestinian Football Federation, Jibril Rajoub, feels betrayed by Israel's refusal to grant permission to players from Iraq, Jordan and the UAE to enter the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub is a very familiar figure among Israelis. He is interviewed frequently by the Israeli media because journalists have almost direct access to him. They know him, and he knows most of them. He was even a member of the “Partners for Peace” group, organized by supporters of the Geneva Initiative, which calls for a two-state solution, and he is something of a darling among peace organizations in Israel, which frequently invite him to meetings and conferences on topics such as coexistence and peace.
This being said, Rajoub is known as someone who trusted the Israelis and cooperated with them throughout the second intifada. Sadly, his Israeli “friends” refused to pay him back in kind.
As commander of the Preventive Security Forces in the West Bank during the second intifada, Rajoub was the only senior Palestinian security official to keep his men in check and prevent them from taking part in terrorist attacks against Israelis. Nevertheless, his command center in Beitunia was bombed and destroyed by Israeli forces. Since then, his name has been bandied about by the Palestinians as someone who trusted the Israelis and got stabbed in the back in return.
It has been a long time since that happened. In conversations I had with him in the past, he told me that he learned his lesson and drew the appropriate conclusions. One of these was to win back the trust of the Palestinians and to convince them that his motives are entirely and purely Palestinian. All he wants is to advance the Palestinian cause. He has no other stake in the game, personal or otherwise.
