By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – The sensitivities of FIFA’s task in trying to solve the Israeli-Palestinian impasse in the occupied territories have been underlined by reports that a Palestinian league team posed for a picture with a banner praising a terrorist who killed two Israelis last Sunday.
A policeman and a 60-year-old grandmother were killed by a Palestinian gunman in a drive-by attack on Sunday morning while six others were injured.
The Palestine Football Association, supported by human rights organisations and even the United Nations, have been heaping pressure on FIFA to take a stance against Israeli West Bank settlement teams illegally playing in the Israeli league.
But the reaction of a group Palestine players to Sunday’s terrorist atrocity has highlighted the complexities of FIFA’s challenge in the region and its efforts to separate sport from politics.
According to the Times of Israel and other reports, members of the West Bank Premier League team Hilal al-Quds displayed a poster with the gunman’s image, which included the words: “The Hilal al-Quds soccer club mourns the loss of the lion of al-Aqsa [Jerusalem], the martyr and hero Mesbah Abu Sabih.”
Team spokesman Tamer Obaidat was quoted as saying the banner was created by fans who were “outraged” that the Palestinian gunman was himself killed by police. The fans reportedly posted the picture on Facebook before removing it.
The incident, if true, seems bound to harden the resolve of Israeli football authorities against Palestinian claims of oppression and, in particular, Palestinian demands that six semi-pro Israeli teams be relocated to within Israel’s internationally recognised borders.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said at the end of last week’s FIFA Council meeting that both Israeli and Palestinian representatives had been invited to attend a meeting next month “with an open, constructive spirit to find a solution for football.”
“We are not a political body and we are not trying to solve political problems,” he added.
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