Palestinians drop bid to ban Israel from FIFA

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) on Friday withdrew its motion asking FIFA's congress to suspend Israel from world soccer’s governing body.

PFA head Jibril Rajoub said he decided upon that action after talking to many of FIFA's 209 members, who urged unity over discord.

“I decided to drop the suspension but it does not mean that I give up the resistance," Rajoub said.

The Palestinians say Israel, through its illegal military occupation of Palestinian territories, violates players' human rights and restricts their movement. Israel has cited security concerns, especially regarding movement in and out of Gaza, which is ruled by the political group Hamas.

Before the motion was dropped, Israel reportedly offered concessions that would allow Palestinian soccer players to travel more freely in the occupied territories, according to Haaretz. However, it remains unclear what the exact terms are, and past concessions have gone unenforced.

In his address to FIFA’s congress on Friday, Rajoub told delegates “I am here to play football rather than play politics. I don't want to score goals, I want to end suffering.”

Afterwards, Rajoub and Israeli soccer chief Ofer Eini shook hands to thunderous applause.

However, Palestinian activists who led the grass-roots campaign to ban Israel from FIFA criticized the move.

“FIFA and its membership have delayed the suspension of Israel, but they cannot delay the growth of the international boycott of Israel or prevent the continued isolation of Israel because of its human rights abuses and war crimes against the Palestinian people,” said Zaid Shuaibi, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee.

BDS activists advocate for the economic and cultural boycott of Israel in order to pressure the state to end its human rights abuses of Palestinians. The movement is loosely based on a similar campaign in the 1970s and 80s that targeted South Africa’s apartheid regime.

Israel on Friday said it was delighted that the motion was dropped and would work together with the Palestinians in the best interests of world soccer.

FIFA has been trying to settle the matter for two years. Earlier this month FIFA President Sepp Blatter traveled to the region, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. During his visit, he urged the two soccer associations to participate in a FIFA-hosted “peace match.”

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press