Take action: Ask your MP to sign this EDM on Israeli settlement football teams
Please contact your MP now and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 811 and raise the issue of FIFA recognising football teams from illegal Israeli settlements.
The link to the EDM and the signatories so far: https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2016-17/811
Find your MP https://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Early day motion 811 – FIFA RECOGNITION OF FOOTBALL TEAMS IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
“That this House notes with considerable concern that six football teams based in illegal Israeli settlements are playing in the Israeli football league, in the 3rd, 4th and 5th tiers, organised by the Israel Football Association (IFA), a member of FIFA; further notes that UN resolutions and international law are clear that those settlements, built in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, are not part of Israel and are illegal under international law; is concerned that football is being used to legitimise the illegal occupation and the illegal settlement project; calls on FIFA to resolve this situation and prohibit teams based in illegally occupied territory from playing in the Israeli football league, which is accountable to FIFA; and calls on FIFA to stop business activity that supports those settlements”.
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In October 2016 Ben Jamal, Director of PSC wrote an article in the Guardian on the subject:
Fifa must ban these Israeli settlement teams, if it wants a level playing field
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/13/fifa-ban-israel-settlement-football-teams
“Today the monitoring committee established a year ago by Fifa to address the question of whether the Israeli football association (IFA) is in violation of Fifa rules will make its recommendations. The evidence before the committee is straightforward and overwhelming. The rules prohibit a member association holding competitions on the territory of another without permission. Six Israeli clubs are playing in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Lemke’s letter confirms the UN’s clear position as to the illegality of Israel’s settlements. This position has been confirmed by numerous UN resolutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a 2004 international court of justice ruling. And Lemke’s intervention follows a comprehensive report by Human Rights Watch stating that the settlement teams are playing on land unlawfully taken from Palestinians.
The report goes further, saying that by allowing the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to hold matches on this land Fifa is enabling business activity that supports the settlements more broadly. In doing so, Fifa is in violation of the human rights commitments it has recently affirmed”.
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