OPEN LETTER TO TOKYO SEXWALE: Stand up for Palestine at Fifa
Dear TokyoWe are writing to you out of concern about your role in the world football federation, Fifa, ahead of the Fifa Council meeting on Friday. In May 2015, you were appointed by Fifa to lead an important process aimed at resolving football injustices resulting from Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian land. You were tasked to tackle two key issues: 1. Israel’s restrictions on the movement of Palestinian football players who are often prevented from playing matches.2. The issue of Israeli football clubs in illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.Israel is using the settlement clubs outside its internationally recognised territory to further its claims to the Palestinian territory it has occupied since 1967. The settlement clubs violate Fifa’s well-established rule that a national football association cannot play matches on the territory of another association without its permission. This rule was applied, for instance, in 2014 when Fifa banned the...
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