April 25 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reiterated its support for Palestinian football during a visit by AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to the country.
Shaikh Salman met with Palestine FA President General Jibril Rajoub and sports leaders and officials, recognising the progress the country had made developing its football, stressing that the confederation would continue to support “Palestinian rights to practice football, and free movement of players, as per FIFA regulations”.
Salman also assured the Palestinians that the AFC would also continue to support the Palestine FA through development projects, including helping raise the level of the various national teams, coaches and referees.
At a separate ceremony Shaikh Salman was honoured with the Jerusalem Star Decoration from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, for his efforts in leading the sport and his support for Palestinian football (pictured).
Palestine is still waiting for a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) verdict on its petition that FIFA president Gianni Infantino broke FIFA statutes at the last congress when he refused a proposal raised by the PFA in which it sought the recognition of its rights to run football activities in accordance with the FIFA Statutes and to vote instead on an alternative proposal in which the FIFA Council was granted a time limit until the end of March 2018 to study and evaluate reports from the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine.
Palestine was in particular protesting the six Israeli teams that are playing in the West Bank. Last October, Infantino all but conceded that painstaking attempts to solve the footballing stand-off between Israel and the Palestinians – started by his predecessor Sepp Blatter – had failed, saying that the issue went beyond the sport and that no more could be done to bring the two parties together.
The Palestinians argue that all they want is for Infantino and FIFA to follow their own rules.
“In its appeal to the CAS, the PFA requested that the decision not to vote on its proposal be declared null and void, that the decision that was passed in its place be revoked and that FIFA be ordered to immediately vote on the PFA’s proposal,” said a CAS press release.
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