Throughout
different historical stages Palestinians sought through football a
sense of national identity, independence and
world recognition. In 1998 Palestine joined the International Football
Association FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). This success was a result of the ongoing efforts which Palestine waged on the
international field for more than half a century since 1940’s until 1990’s. It
gave Palestine a significant opportunity to be presented as an
independent nation, and to be integrated in the international community. Since 1998, Palestine started to take part in
the World Cup qualifiers. In November 1917, Palestine’s FIFA
ranking was 73, comparing to 185 in 1998.[1]
After
1998, FIFA made an enormous support to the PFA; it included the constructions
of numerous sports facilities (such as the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium in al-Ram
near Jerusalem), training courses for coaches and referees, etc. However, today
unfortunately FIFA refused to impose sanctions over six teams playing in the Israeli league, which are based
in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This despite the international
community considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. [2] Israel is a member of UEFA. According to UEFA (Union of European Football Association) statutes, ‘a Member Association,
or its affiliated leagues and clubs, may neither play nor organize matches
outside its own territory without the permission of the relevant Member
Associations.’ [3] Accordingly, UEFA and FIFA prohibited the
participation of football clubs from Crimea in the Russian league in 2014. Yet
UEFA and FIFA have so far failed to apply the same rule to Israeli settlement
clubs. [4]
There
are still many obstacles to surmount, Palestine’s participation in the
international competition is no longer questioned. Palestine becoming a member
of FIFA and participating in World Cup qualifications (as well as in other
international tournaments such as Olympic Games) was the culmination of relentless
efforts over many years by Palestinian athletes, administrators and activists
and their international allies. They had to overcome lack of funds and training
facilities, Israeli blockades, restrictions and bombings. The achievement was reached after a long
process that mirrored Palestinian efforts to be regarded as a sovereign nation
and take its rightful place in international sporting events as well as in
other international realms. What were the obstacles facing the Palestinian and how were they overcome? How does a nation forced
by historical events to exist without an independent state assume today its
rightful place on the world sport stage? These are the questions to be examined
in the analysis at the history of Palestine and FIFA, from early efforts during
the 1920s and up until today’s participation.
At this point, it is relevant to examine how a
nation becomes a member of the FIFA and the various criteria applied when
considering membership. Another area of political contention centered on the issue
of what countries may be members of FIFA.
As
international law scholar Akehurst notes, there is general agreement in the
international community that an independent state must possess certain
characteristics in order to be internationally recognized. These include a
determinable territory; a fixed population; a functioning government and the
capacity to enter into relations with other states. [5]
Fellow legal scholar Francis A. Boyle has studied Palestinian claims for
statehood and concluded that these criteria are met, despite the special
circumstances of Palestinian history, and that the United Nation Charter
article 80 and league Covenant article 22 (section 4) substantiate this. [6]
The FIFA includes that any Association which is responsible
for organizing and supervising football in its country may become a Member of
FIFA.[7]
Consequently, it is recommended that all Members of FIFA involve all relevant
stakeholders in football in their own structure.[8] Thus, although membership in FIFA is technically
not based on statehood, the process is based on statehood and defers to
recognized national organizations. Consequently, unrecognized secessionist
entities such as South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh have no real chance of
having their football associations become part of a confederation, let alone
FIFA.[9]
While the United Nations has 192 members, FIFA
(the governing body of football) has 208 [sic. 209] members. One reason
for the disparity in these figures is that FIFA allows some regions with
special political circumstances to play alongside other “de jour” recognized
states in the world. One example of this is Palestine. What
is most important is that the continued participation of the national team
helps to retain a sense of national identity amongst Palestinians and gives
them a positive cause to celebrate. Secondly, football, especially at the youth
level, also provides a mechanism for peaceful interaction with their Israeli
neighbors, which could potentially help to build bridges between the two
communities and to resolve the ongoing Middle East crisis.[10]
Early Days
The
history of Palestine’s march towards FIFA begins in 1924, when Palestine was
under the British control. As a result of the Ottoman empire which ruled the
Middle East for four centuries and the conquest of the land of Palestine by the
British army, in the league of Nations granted Britain a mandate to administer
the territory. In 1917, Britain gave colonial sanction to Zionism by issuing the
Balfour Declaration in a form of a letter to Lord Rothschild (who presented
Zionist interests for the occasion), in which the government undertook to "view with
favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people."[11] There is no separating Balfour's ideology from that of
Zionism, even though history and historical experience of, ideas about
Palestine. For all their differences (and they were numerous), both the
British imperialist and the Zionist vision are united in playing down and even
canceling out the Arabs in Palestine as somehow secondary and negligible. Both
raise the moral importance of the visions very far above the mere presence of
natives on a piece of immensely significant territory.[12] This Declaration was the
cornerstone of this cooperation which the British made as their basic ground to
the ‘Judaization’ of Palestine.[13]
A few
years later, the British Mandate in Palestine cooperated with the Zionist
settlers at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs. [14]
Since
the beginning of the Jewish immigration to Palestine Zionism
saw in sport a way for achieving the dream of the “National Home”; a pivotal
mean for promoting the Jewish national sentiments. Since early 1910s the
Zionists started establishing clubs such as the Maccabi. In 1925 the Maccabi
World Organization was moved to Palestine. In 1926 the ha-Poel organization was
established then followed by the Beitar headed by the Zionist revisionist Ze’ev
Jabotinsky who struggled for state recognition. These organizations took sports
as a cover for their political and paramilitary activities.
In 1924,
the leadership of the Jewish Maccabi Athletic Organization attempted to gain
membership in the International Amateur Athletic Federation. According to FIFA’s rules, his initiative ended in failure, as it was determined that
Maccabi did not represent Arab, British and Jewish sportsmen in Palestine
equally. However, this unsuccessful attempt did not discourage Maccabi leader
Josef Yekutieli, who in the early 1925 attempted to gain Maccabi membership in
the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Yekutieli decided
to employ a different tactic this time -- he first established the Palestine
Football Federation. [15]
According to FIFA rules, only associations representing
states could be accepted as members. Thus, Maccabi officials were compelled to
invite not only their Zionist political adversary, ha-Po’el, but also Arab
teams to join the Palestinian Football Association (PFA). Therefore, in
addition to the fourteen Zionist representatives that participated in the first
meeting of the new soccer-association directorate, one Arab delegate took
part—a member of the Nusseibeh family (Ibrahim) representing the Arab Sports
Club of Jerusalem. A member of the prominent.[16] However, despite his
involvement in this first session, Nusseibeh’s name never again appeared in the
directorate’s protocol. [17]Nevertheless, during the first
years of the PFA, Arab teams participated in the games of the Association. A
report submitted to FIFA in 1929 describes three soccer divisions in Palestine:
ten teams in the first, twenty in the second (five of them Arab), and
thirty-nine in the third (six of them Arab). [18]
Later
PFA adopted Zionism’s blue and white colours and dropped Arabic as one of its
languages within three years of its founding. The Zionist anthem “Ha-Tikva” was
played alongside Britain’s “God Save the King” at the start of official
matches. The Palestine Olympic Committee followed a similar pattern with its
nine members, seven of which were Jewish.
The exploitation of PFA by the Jewish athletic officials and the continued marginalization
of the Arabs was among the Zionist goals, especially after joining FIFA in June
1929; therefore, the Palestinians announced their dissatisfaction
with the Jewish practices in seizing this Association. [19] The Association’s joining
FIFA was a valuable opportunity for the sake of making the Jewish identity
prominent and representing Palestine as a Jewish nation on the international
level. With this the Jews, with the cooperation and support of the British,
were able to represent Palestine as Jewish nation on the international level in the World Cup
in both 1934 and 1938. [20]
Resulting from
the gross transgressions by the Jews in the Palestinian Football Association
and also resulting from the 1929 Revolt, many of the sporting leaders
established the Arab Palestinian Sports Federation PSF or (Palestine Sport
Association PSA) in April 1931. Because of the 1936 revolt, the activities of
the PSF were hindered and PSF totally paralyzed at the end of the thirties. Few
of its members joined the Jewish-oriented PFA. [21]
The
Jewish effort to solidify ties with the British as well as with other nations
through soccer was boosted by Palestine’s admission in 1928 to world soccer
body — FIFA. Within a decade of its founding, the PFA sought FIFA’s permission
to play regional teams that were not members of the world body in a bid to
strengthen Zionist ties with its non-Palestinian Arab neighbors as well as with
British colonial teams in the Arab Middle East, and to obstruct Arab
Palestinian teams, which it had alienated or excluded from the PFA, from
competing with teams from other Arab counties.”
[22] To this end, the PFA in the mid-1930s used
its authority as the national association to prevent Palestinian teams from
playing neighboring Arab squads on the grounds that they were not members of
the PFA.
In a letter sent on November
18, 1937 to the FIFA by Khader Kamal, Secretary of the Arab Sports Club in
Jerusalem, it was mentioned that:
Recognizing a Jewish team only, prejudice the Arab love of sports and
exchanging visits with neighboring countries. If it is not possible to have our
Club recognized by your association, we sincerely request that permission be
granted to the teams of neighboring countries to play our team without the
necessity of taking permission from the Palestine Football Federation. We have,
before the introduction of the present regulations, often played against these
teams, giving very good account of ourselves. At the present, we are playing
against various British regiment teams in Palestine. In case you need any
recommendation in evidence of our ability and conduct in Sports, we will be
very glad to produce such certificates.[23]
1945-1947
Since its re-establishment in September 1944, the Arab PSF
strived to join FIFA. In order to achieve this task, the PSF, since the
beginning, strengthened its links with the football federations in the
neighboring Arab countries. The PSF gave the brotherly federations in
these countries a detailed explanation of the sport conditions in Palestine, the
conflict with the Zionist-dominated PFA. The desire of enrollment in FIFA came
at a time of escalation in the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews.
Through this membership, the Palestinians wanted to prove that they were the
real legitimate representative of Palestine and they constituted the majority
in the country.
On March 15, 1945, the following excerpt appeared in the sports section of Filastin
by Hussein Husni.[24] It was a message to
the reader about the athletic conditions in Palestine and the domination by PFA
on the sports arena. Husni asserts that this association must not be the
representative of the Arab Palestinians this association (the PFA)
does not represent anyone but itself and its community, and not the
Arab-Palestinian people.[25]
The issue of the PSF’s application
was discussed at the FIFA conference in Luxemburg in August
1946. All of the facts confirm that, prior to 1948 there were
some 65 social athletic clubs in Palestine. Approximately 55 of them were
members of the Arab Palestine Sports Federation, which was established in 1931,
and re-established in 1944; this included athletic clubs from all over
Palestine.[26]
At this conference, the Lebanese representative made it clear that the PSF
included the sixty Arab clubs in Palestine. He also made it clear that
FIFA’s two main tasks are as follows: its concern about the good relationship
with all the member countries, and the pursuit to allow every official party
that practices football to join FIFA. The formation of two associations
in Palestine, and the recognition of the government in them, is nothing but
resentment between the parties. It’s a result of the political conditions
in the country. The tenseness between the Arabs and the Jews led to the
lack of connections in sports between the Arab Sport Association and the
PFA. He added that when some of the clubs tried to join the PFA, they
failed because of the political conflict between the two peoples. He also
mentioned that these conditions resulted in sanctions by the Arab football
associations in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon against the Jewish association
(PFA). Therefore, it is required from FIFA to find a solution to the
sport condition in Palestine.[27]
In August 1946, the secretary of
the PSF received a letter from FIFA saying that FIFA had reviewed the
application of the entry of the PSF in FIFA in its meeting in Luxemburg.
FIFA decided to form a committee for reviewing this matter from all its aspects
so this committee could later provide its recommendations to the executive
committee.
Later, during a personal
communication between Khalil Hilmi, the Lebanese representative, and FIFA’s
president, the latter showed intent to agree on every application he receives
concerning the games involving the Arab teams in Palestine. In the
conference, which was held in Glasgow on May 10th, 1947, it was
decided to discuss the enrolment of Palestine in FIFA. However, the final
decision was that the Arabs and the Jews have to cooperate together, because it
is hard to recognize two committees from one country at the same time.[28]
“………The
statutes and the regulations of the FIFA are formal: On a given territory there
can only be one body directing all the football matches that take place on that
territory……One cannot allow two federations to exist on this territory as long
as on this territory there are not two distinct political entities.”[29]
The Zionist-dominated PFA was not
pleased with the decisions made at FIFA’s Luxembourg and Glasgow conferences.[30] It is necessary to state that, because of
the efforts made by the PSF to join FIFA, FIFA's language with the Arabs had become more benign. FIFA recognized the organizational
efficiency of the PSF, and realized the variety of its sports activities. [31]
1951-1965
Some 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly uprooted from their native towns and villages during the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948. Sports infrastructure was totaly destroyed. Abdel-Rahman al-Habbab secretary of PSF moved to Jordan. PSF continued to exist after 1948. Habbab sought to reapply for the affiliation of PSF with FIFA. [32]
In a letter to FIFA in March 1951 it explained that twenty-one clubs have so
far registered in this federation, and have twelve football fields at its disposal
most of which were fenced and have international dimensions. [33]
No further information about
this application was mentioned, however, obviously the application was rejected
by FIFA.
At that time few Palestinian clubs joined the Jordan Football Association (JFA) where Al-Habbab became its president in 1956. Clubs in the West Bank such as Nadi
al-Muwathafeen (Club of Employees) in Jerusalem and Shabab al-Khalil (Youth of
Hebron) took part in the tournaments of JFA.
In 1951 the West Bank was annexed to Jordan, and Gaza Sector to Egypt. In
the 1950s and 1960s, football in Gaza reached a reasonable level. Gaza Sector
witnessed a rapid growth in sports. A solid organizational infrastructure was
developed which its effects still exist until this day. The Egyptian
administration established the “Regional Committee for Youth Care,” which was
headed by the General Governor, and included 25 members, most of whom were
sports leaders. The Supreme Committee of Youth in Cairo supported this regional
committee financially and technically. Proudly, Palestinians in Gaza
Sector could represent Palestine in the international arena. [34]
In 1962, the athletic
leadership decided to form a football association [al-Ittihad al-Riyadi
al-Falastini li Korat al-Qadam] (Palestine Sports Federation - Football). [35] The clubs affiliated to the Federation were
15 in number. Three other Federations in Palestine have been accepted in
their respective Federations, name Boxing, Weightlifting and Basketball.[36]
In August 1963 it applied to join FIFA.
Later PFA had been informed that its request for affiliation to FIFA will be
submitted to the Executive Committee at their meeting of October 6th,
1964 in Tokyo. Accordingly, it had delegated three representatives to
attend this meeting in Tokyo. In spite of the high expenses occurred for
the travel of its representatives to Tokyo, they were faced with the fact that
their request for affiliation to FIFA was not enrolled on the agenda. [37]
FIFA considered that the status of
the Gaza Sector was the main obstacle in the registration of the PFA. On
2nd of December, FIFA informed the UN in Geneva that the Palestine
Sports Football Federation, with Headquarters in Gaza, has requested affiliation
with FIFA, and inquired of the UN the legal status of Gaza. The latter
responded that it was concerned the status of Gaza is governed by the
Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, signed at Rhodes on 24 February
1949. Under this General Armistice Agreement Gaza is a “territory under
the control” of Egypt (then the United Arab Republic). The Agreement
specifically provides that it is not intended to prejudice the rights, claims
or interests of a non-military character in the area of Palestine. “While
Israel has taken the position that the General Armistice Agreement with Egypt
is no longer in force, the United Arab Republic and the United Nations do not
accept this view. In any event, Gaza remains “territory under the
control” of the United Arab Republic and for which the UAR is internationally
responsible. If you should wish for which the UAR is internationally
responsible.”[38]
Later PFA received a letter from FIFA dated 24
December, 1964:
With
reference to previous correspondence I would like to inform you that one
difficulty has arisen, that is to know the exact status of your country.
As soon as UNO [United Nations Organization] answers our question we hope to be
able to submit your application to the competent committee but this will not be
before the end of February 1965. If you are able to let us know your
exact political status would you please be so kind as to write to us again.[39]
On the 28th of May,
1965, the PFA received a telegram from FIFA informing it about the rejection of
its application: We firmly object exepting [sic. accepting] a District called
Gaza as a member of FIFA. There is no country called Palestine, therefore
Gaza cannot be in Palestine. The exeptance [sic. acceptance] of a part of
a country as an independent member is contrary to the FIFA regulations.
Later, Elias Manneh gave a brief historical explanation about the status of
Gaza, and refuted the claims that Gaza was a “territory under control” of
Egypt.14 FIFA responded that it was not ignorant of the
historical facts the PFA mentioned but did not wish to enter into arguments of
a political nature. [40]
1965 - 1993
The Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) in May 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people.” Despite that, the PLO created,
and founded, a number of organizations which fulfilled the demands of the
Palestinian people. However, in its resolutions, nothing was found
mentioning sports or physical education, except what was mentioned in the
session of the National Council in 1968 when a section called “popular
organization” [al-Tanzim al-Sha’bi] was established aimed to organize social
and cultural affairs.
Political conditions in these
countries where Palestinian refugees lived, and the relations between the
regimes, and the PLO, had their impacts on sports and football. In 1968, a decision was made by the PLO to form the
Palestine Supreme Council for Youth Care SCYC. In 1969, few branch committees
were established in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Qattar, and the United Arab Emirates. After 1970, SCYC headquarters was moved from Amman to Lebanon. A new supreme council was
formed from qualified Palestinian athletic leaders in Lebanon. The
council started to remove the impacts of the war; new clubs were founded in
Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Athletic and scouts’ activities started to rise.
The first conference
of SCYC was held in Beirut in Suq al-Gharb in 1974
(later it was changed to Palestine Supreme Council for Youth and Sports SCYS).
New executive committee members were elected at this conference. No other
conference was held after that, due to the political conditions and the
transfer of the headquarters from Beirut to Tunisia in 1982. This was
similar to the other popular institutions, which also suffered weakness and
failures for the same reasons.[41]
Palestine Football Association
As was mentioned
earlier, after the transfer of the Supreme Council headquarters from Jordan
to Lebanon, the executive committee started to re-establish sport
associations. Palestine Football Association was re-established in 1971.
The Palestine Football Association developed new rules which stipulated the
admission of players in Palestinian clubs exclusively. This resulted in
alienating a few qualified players who were playing for first league Lebanese
clubs from the Palestinian national team. Most of the formations of the
national team were from Palestinian clubs members of the football
association. Also, the selection of the national team was subjected to
favoritism; the administrators selected players who were members of the clubs
that they ran. [42]
As
it was mentioned, the PFA had three attempts to join FIFA, but its applications
were rejected. In 1978, PFA once again submitted its application to
FIFA. The application was attached with all requirements, such as the PFA
statutes. The PFA did not succeed in gaining the membership. However, in
1979, PFA made another attempt, but its application was again hobbled by
different obstacles, such as the refusal of the affiliation of the Palestine
Olympic Committee with the IOC. PFA continued its communication with the
Arab Football Association (AFA), established in 1974 (Palestine joined AFA in
1974), which offered enormous support for the affiliation of PFA in FIFA.
In order to fulfill FIFA’s requirements, one of the Arab countries agreed to have
the headquarters of PFA on its land in order to gain legal consent, and to have
its own field where it could manage tournaments. In 1989, PFA was able to
get permission from the Iraqi Football Association, allowing it to have its
headquarters in Baghdad. In addition, PFA started to hold its own tournament,
on its own field, in this city. PFA asked for support from the AFA to
request from FIFA the affiliation of PFA. However, it failed another
time. But, the PFA did not lose hope. In 1993, it applied again,
depending on the new political conditions (ratification of the Oslo Agreement)
and on the admission of the Palestine Olympic Committee in the IOC as
observer. Again, FIFA refused the application.
1993-1998
On the 20th of November
1993, a letter from PFA to FIFA President Joao Havelange:
For a long time, the Palestinian Football
Federation has hoped to be affiliated to the Federation Internationale de
Football Association. Football has always been played in Palestine, and our
teams are known to be well trained and organized in the area. Prior to this
date, our application for the affiliation into FIFA was not accepted, due to
our status in the International Olympic Committee. On September 27th,
1993, we have become officially affiliated into the International Olympic
Committee. The Palestinian Football Federation wished to be affiliated into
FIFA, and become an active member, as soon as possible.
In May 1995, the PFA was granted the status of
provisional member in FIFA. Considering the prevailing situation
regarding Palestine, the Executive Committee nevertheless made the following
two restrictions: [43]
First: the Palestinian Football Federation may only
play friendly matches. Second: the Palestinian Football Federation may only
play these matches in the territory of another national association affiliated
to FIFA (provided that the national association concerned gives their
authorization). In June 1998, PFA was affiliated to FIFA as a full member at
its 51st Ordinary Congress, held in Paris on June 8th
1998. [44]
Conclusion
This affiliation which came after four attempts, could be a historical step toward the statehood, it refuted the Israeli claims; such claims alleged that the Palestinians lack the ingredients to be represented in international organizations and associations. It became obvious, that the affiliation with the international organizations (such as FIFA, IOC and others) plowed the way for Palestine to become a non-member observer state in the United Nations in November 2012. In fact, this membership helped to
improve PFA’s performance in many aspects; it accelerated the growth and
progress of football in Palestine and gave the Palestinian national team a
chance to participate in the international arena.
Believing that Palestinians deserve to live and practice a normal daily life, in one on his visits to Palestine FIFA's former president Sepp Blatter said that "Youngsters across the region need to have the opportunity to play football. It can build bridges, bring young people in the region together, and give them hope."[45] It is clear that the politics of FIFA are moving away from the kind of support that former FIFA president had displayed toward Palestinians.[46]
Recently, sports have begun to play a small but steadily increasing role
in the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
that targets Israel for its ongoing violations of international law and
Palestinian human rights. Now, there is a pressure on
FIFA to act over the presences of Israeli soccer clubs in the illegal West Bank
settlements. Early calls for such action were initially highlighted by the Palestine
Football Association (PFA), though with little organizational and
institutional support these calls gained little traction. Since 2016
however, this issue has become a focal
point due to the independent efforts of BDS
groups and civil society more broadly. [47]
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