FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Tuesday that he is on a "mission of peace"
to resolve tensions between the Israeli and Palestinian football
federations, according to Aron Heller of the AP. As part of his vision of using sports as a "bridge between people,
Blatter proposed holding a peace match in Zurich between the Israeli and
Palestinian national teams." Seated alongside Blatter, Israeli FA President Ofer Eini "immediately accepted the offer." But
the main issue bringing the FIFA president to the region "appeared to
remain unresolved." Blatter met with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday following a Palestinian bid to suspend Israel from FIFA. Blatter is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday and has "repeatedly said he would not disclose details of his conversations with Netanyahu before that time" (AP, 5/19). The AFP reported Israel FA CEO Rotem Kamer said Tuesday that a
Palestinian attempt to oust it from FIFA
was "cynical" and "counter to the spirit of sport." Kamer said that the Palestinian demand had "nothing to do with sports." He said, "We
see it as a clear mix of politics and football, something which should
not find a place in the FIFA Congress" (AFP, 5/19). REUTERS' Luke Baker reported while Palestinian officials "emphasize that there is
nothing political about their move," it raises parallels with FIFA's
suspension of apartheid South Africa in the '60s and Slobodan
Milosevic's Yugoslavia in the '90s, making it a "highly emotive issue
with ramifications that go far beyond sports." The Palestinians have raised "three major complaints:
that Palestinian players and officials are routinely restricted in their
movement, making it difficult to play matches;" that five clubs play in
the Israeli league that are located in settlements in the Palestinian
territories; and that the IFA is "turning a
blind eye to racism" (REUTERS, 5/19).
