The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has turned to a global sporting arbitrator to appeal what it calls an “unjust” decision by Fifa not to sanction Israel for running football clubs out of Israeli settlements inside the occupied West Bank.
Last month, after carrying out an investigation based on a 2024 PFA complaint, Fifa insisted that “the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law”, and therefore, it would “take no action”.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, according to the International Court of Justice.
On 20 April, the PFA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), the Reuters news agency confirmed.
“Since we have exhausted every legal venue possible at Fifa, we’ll still go by the rules, go by the book, and we’ll appeal that decision because we think it’s very unjust,” PFA vice president Susan Shalabi said after the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Vancouver, Canada.
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“The (Fifa) council decided after 15 years of deliberations on this issue not to decide. So the only course of action that we have is to go to Cas and to appeal that. We will go through the whole process until we are able to achieve justice,” she added.
The developments are only the latest in a string of incidents involving Fifa and Palestinian football.
The president of the PFA, as well as two other officials from the organisation, were denied visas to Canada for the annual Fifa Congress, which is also being held in Vancouver on Thursday, The Guardian previously revealed.
Canada is one of the hosts of this year’s World Cup, alongside the US and Mexico.
Politics and media pressure
The PFA urged Fifa – football’s governing body – to intervene on its behalf, and Shalabi confirmed on Tuesday that most of the visas did indeed get approved after political and media pressure.
Palestine Football Association president denied entry to Canada for Fifa event: Report
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PFA’s general secretary and president will now attend the congress, but will likely arrive late, she said. The third individual – the organisation’s legal counsel – was not approved for a visa.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said at the time of the denials that it would not divulge details on individual cases, but that “applications are considered on a case-by-case basis based on the information presented by the applicant”.
PFA president Jibril Rajoub was reportedly set to address the Fifa Congress specifically on the matter of Israel holding football matches on occupied land.
In February, the groups Irish Sport for Palestine, Scottish Sport for Palestine, Just Peace Advocates, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and Sport Scholars for Justice in Palestine filed a 120-page complaint with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court against Fifa’s president, The New York Times reported.
The complaint names Gianni Infantino and European football governing body president Aleksander Ceferin and accuses them of “aiding war crimes”.
“FIFA and UEFA permit [Israeli] clubs to play in leagues organised by the Israel Football Association and host matches on the seized land,” the groups said.
