Soccer’s world governing body has promised to do everything in its power to help bring Israelis and Palestinians together.
Soccer’s world governing body has promised to do everything in its power to help bring Israelis and Palestinians together.
Addressing the Palestine Football Association (PFA) and politicians at the presidential compound in Ramallah during a recent visit to the Middle East, Fifa president Joseph Blatter also promised to make soccer emerge as a force for good in Palestine.
“We will help you. Football will help you. I have taken you in my heart,” he said, claiming he was “on a sport diplomatic mission to transmit to the Israeli authorities the problems which your football faces, especially when it comes to the movement of players to get in and out of Palestine.
“I will fight for your cause. Football shall not create borders; football shall bring people together,” he added.
Blatter’s words follow a commitment at the 63rd Fifa Congress held in May that mandated observation of the current soccer situation in Palestine. Specifically, the congress sought to implement Fifa’s mission of developing and promoting the game in the territory, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Blatter, who was accompanied by Fifa vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan and PFA president Jibril Rajoub, was received by the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) secretary general Yasser Abd Raboh.
As part of the visit, Blatter launched a book, 100 Years of Football in Palestine, which was funded by Fifa, and also inaugurated three Goal Programme projects including a turf pitch in Tulkarm, the Joseph Blatter Football Academy in Al Bireh and the new PFA headquarters in Al-Ram, near the Al-Ram Stadium that Blatter opened in 2008, and which was recently refurbished with Fifa assistance.
For Blatter, it was also a unique personal occasion as he was presented with an honorary doctorate from the An-Najah National University of Nablus by Dr Rami Hamdallah, dean of the university and current Prime Minister of Palestine, at an event attended by hundreds of students and soccer fans.
Fifa’s commitment to helping the people of Palestine has also been welcomed by Sport Against Racism Ireland (Sari).
Earlier this year Sari’s international officer Ken McCue met with the PFA president to discuss various initiatives including coaching programmes, ‘education through sport’ modules and a visit of a combined Gaza and West Bank under-19 women’s team to Dublin.
“Hopefully there will be a follow-up to this as the ‘football mad’ Palestinians are keen to show the rest of the world that peace through sport works,” McCue told Metro Éireann.
“Working with students at the Beir Zeit University in Ramallah, I was very encouraged by the level of interest in the study of the social responsibility of sport and role of the medium in conflict resolution and cultural integration.
“Freedom of movement of sports practitioners is a priority in the region along with the freedom of women to practice their sport within Gaza,” McCue added.
