JACK MILNER
The commission was set up in 2015 and Sexwale, former South African Minister of Human Settlements, was originally due to release his report last October. He asked for an extension and was given until January this year and when he still had not submitted it, his final date for submission was extended to the end of March.
He finally presented his recommendations to Palestinian and Israeli officials in a session last week that has been described as “stormy”.
At issue are six small-time Israeli soccer clubs which play in Israeli settlements. Palestinians argue the presence of the clubs is in breach of Fifa statutes. They want football’s world governing body to force Israel to change its policy.
Palestinians have also long claimed that Israeli security restrictions limit movement of their players, visiting teams and football equipment. Israeli football officials have said that political decisions are beyond their control.
Sexwale presented three possible options. The first recommendation proposes maintaining a status quo. The second stresses that Fifa statutes ban any federation from organising matches on a territory that is not its own, without the agreement of the federation of the country concerned. The third would be to seek a compromise – but efforts to do so have failed.
Both parties feel that all three recommendations fail to take the debate forward and are unlikely to satisfy the Palestinians who have reiterated that they will not agree to any further compromises if Fifa continues to drag its feet.
Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub, who was present at the meeting, said none of the three options offered by Sexwale met Palestinian expectations. He said he would “prefer that we go right away to sanction and to suspension (of the Israeli football federation)” but declared himself “realistic”.
“We were flexible, we were realistic, but the other side insisted on acting according to a policy of an expansionist, racist government,” Rajoub said.
He has vowed in the past to take the matter to court if Fifa drags its feet or fails to stand up to the Jewish State.
On the other hand, the Israelis also are up in arms. “We make no distinction between any of the Israeli football teams that are active in the Israel Football Association and we have players from different nationalities and backgrounds playing together in camaraderie and full co-operation, regardless of where the clubs are located.
“The same holds true for clubs located in places whose final status is to be determined,” said IFA legal adviser Efraim Barak.
Fifa said in a statement that Sexwale’s monitoring committee presented a “draft final report containing specific recommendations” without providing any detail, adding that the various parties will “come back” to him before he submits his final report to the Fifa Congress in May in Bahrain.
Susan Shalabi, a Palestinian member of the monitoring committee and Palestine Football Association vice chairman, told the Jerusalem Post that one last-ditch final meeting would be held in early May before the Fifa Congress where the committee’s mandate is set to expire.
However, Israel’s participation at the congress is also an issue because the Shin Bet has not approved their trip to the Persian Gulf.
The congress was due to take place in Kuala Lumpur, but was moved as Malaysia wouldn’t guarantee it would issue visas to Israeli delegates, as well as display the Israeli flag during the congress.
Meanwhile, Sexwale has been lambasted from all corners. A number of human rights organisations representing the Palestinians, have accused him of dragging his feet.
“Far from producing his report in time for today’s deadline, Mr Sexwale has not yet met with the two associations’ representatives and is unlikely to do so before late March,” said a representative of Red Card Israeli Racism after the January deadline was missed.
“This shabby record is totally unacceptable and indicates a lack of engagement by Fifa’s new leadership.”
It looks highly unlikely that a settlement on this issue will be negotiated, because there seems to be no compromise on the table that will be acceptable to both sides. So it appears Fifa will have to make the final decision unilaterally.
