FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that "he will attempt to persuade" the Palestinian FA to withdraw a bid to get Israel suspended from world football's governing body, according to REUTERS. Blatter said that he would meet with the PFA President Jibril Rajoub "in an effort to convince him not to place a resolution on a possible Israeli suspension on the agenda for the FIFA Congress in Zurich next month." Blatter: "I will try to convince him that such a situation should not occur at FIFA. A suspension of any member affects badly the whole organization." The PFA "accused Israel of continuing to hamper its football activities, frustrated at restrictions they say Israel imposes on the movement of their athletes between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank." The PFA "also cited curbs Israel places on the import into Palestinian territories of sports equipment and on visits by foreign teams and individuals." Blatter said that "he had been mandated to intervene in the dispute by FIFA's executive committee and two years ago established a task force," which included himself, the Israeli and Palestinian football chiefs and the heads of the European and Asian football confederations to examine the Palestinian complaints and to try to resolve them. Israel "cites security concerns for restrictions it imposes in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises and along the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip" (REUTERS, 4/7).
