Israeli, Palestinian officials score a goal on FIFA agreement
While Israel has been allowing increased movement of Palestinian soccer players and teams and their opponents, Palestinian officials say more improvements need to be made.
The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and Israel Football Association (IFA) have agreed to create a new mechanism to facilitate Palestinian soccer teams' movement, although a long road remains ahead.
Without a peace process, Israeli and Palestinian officials seldom meet. However, the PFA and IFA met for the third time in five months on Dec. 16, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Jericho. FIFA, the global soccer powerhouse, convened the meeting to address Palestinian soccer concerns.
While the meeting did not result in a partial or comprehensive agreement, both parties have expressed hope that a future agreement is possible. Palestinian soccer has suffered from the security situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Soccer players frequently struggle to travel abroad and to and from the West Bank. For example, in 2006, Israel blocked Gazan members from traveling to Uzbekistan to play a World Cup qualifying match after a deadly bombing in Beersheba. In 2007, Israel denied 18 members of the Palestinian national team exit visas to play a World Cup qualifying match in Singapore, forcing it to forfeit. Moreover, the PFA often cannot easily access donated equipment at Israeli ports.
Jibril Rajoub, the chairman of the PFA, told the May 2015 FIFA Congress that he paid $32,000 for $8,000 worth of equipment. Nonetheless, Israel holds that it restricts movement on security grounds.
