October 2016

FIFA reports as follows on the FIFA Council meeting: “Mr Tokyo Sexwale, chairman of the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, provided members of the Council with a comprehensive update on the progress of his committee. The Council was encouraged by the chairman’s update and urged all parties involved to come to the crucial meeting of the Monitoring Committee, …

Ben Jamal, Chief Executive of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, writes in today’s Guardian to support the Palestinian FA under the headline: FIFA must ban these Israeli settlement teams, if it wants a level playing field. There is a rising tide of pressure, including UN intervention, calling for exclusion. Any other decision would go against football’s core principle …

Haaretz’s reports the PFA President’s threat to petition the Court of Arbitration in Sport if the settlement clubs issue is not settled.  It also reports that the FIFA Council is likely to postpone a decision as a result of Israeli Pressure. The full text of the report is: “The head of the Palestinian Football Association has threatened that …

The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has reported the following.  It presents unambiguously the legal position that we and others have emphasised. (Photo of the Aroni Ariel football ground is by Jack Guez, AFP/Getty images). “A senior United Nations official has written to Fifa to reiterate that the UN regards Israeli settlements – and by extension Israeli football …

AFP reports Palestinian youths were refused permission to enter the Maale Adumim settlement on Tuesday 11th October.  Boys aged between 11 and 15 from nearby Bedouin communities chanted “Infantino” let us play”.  See http://worldsoccertalk.com/2016/10/11/palestinian-youths-march-on- The full text is as follows:! “Palestinian children marched on an Israeli settlement to play football there on Tuesday, in a …

Several representations have been made to the Israel Palestine Monitoring Committee on the issue of teams from Israeli settlements playing in the Israeli FA’s leagues prior to the Committee’s report at the FIFA Council meeting on 13-14 October.  This campaign felt that prior to the meeting relevant information should also be forwarded to the individual members of the …