During his visit, Blatter, who is expected to stand for a fifth term as President next year, met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as well as the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub.

He insisted he would help mediate Palestinian problems with Israel regarding travel restrictions for the Palestinian national team.

"We shall try, we shall find a solution - a solution that sport is not politics," he said during the meeting in Ramallah. 

"But sport, in this case, can help to solve the problem and if we are able to solve this problem it could be also a good, let's say step, to solve other problems that you have in this region."

Israeli has long prevented Palestinian athletes from travelling between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip due to "security concerns", something Palestine fiercely disputes.

A task force was set up by Blatter last year to find a remedy, but it is claimed little progress has been made and, earlier this month, Rajoub told Reuters they will urge FIFA delegates to take sanctions against Israel so long as they continue to act "like the neighbourhood bully". 

He now insists they will press ahead with these demands if restrictions are not lifted following Blatter's visit.

Sepp Blatter presented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with a FIFA club flag during his visit ©AFP/Getty Images






Israeli authorities claim to have eased restrictions in recent times, but in March two teenage Palestinian footballers were reportedly shot in the feet at an Israeli checkpoint, preventing them from ever playing football again.

Jawhar Nasser Jawhar and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya had been walking home from a training session in the West Bank when the soldiers opened fire, although Israeli security forces claimed they had been attempting to throw explosive devices at police officers.

Following this, an online petition supporting the removal of Israel from FIFA after the shooting of the Palestinian teenagers gained around 12,000 signatures.

"Unfortunately, Israel places hurdles on this activity, which we are supposed to exercise freely," President Abbas added during the meeting with Blatter.

"At a time when we consider ourselves to be active FIFA members, we see that Israel and the Government of Israel, tries to place these hurdles in the path of our activities."

Blatter will now travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he has the tough task of convincing the Israeli authorities to remove the travel restrictions, but without losing their trust and support. 

The visit marks the latest recent attempt of Blatter to use football as a vehicle to bring about wider progress, following his welcoming of proposed labour law reforms in Qatar ahead of the Gulf nation hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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