Just hours before the ceasefire was announced, the Palestinian Football Association reported the deaths of two more players. This brings the official number of athletes, coaches and officials killed during the war in Gaza to 715.
Among them were 95 children, says Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association. In addition, almost 300 sports facilities were damaged or destroyed: “Some sports fields in Gaza were converted into cemeteries because there was no longer space for the many dead. Yarmouk Stadium, one of our oldest stadiums ever, was used as an internment camp by the Israeli army. We also had to stop almost all leagues and activities in the West Bank. It is too dangerous for our members to travel from one place to another.”
Massive increase in attacks
Many Palestinian athletes were not allowed to leave the country for international competitions. In order to continue playing international football matches, Palestinian national players spend months at a time abroad, separated from their families.
The Gaza war is likely to have long-lasting effects in the West Bank, says political scientist and Middle East expert Jan Busse: “We have a massive increase in violent attacks by settlers on the Palestinian civilian population. Including farmers, some of whose land these settlers are trying to take under their control. At the same time, they generally do not have to face criminal prosecution. But it is often the case, and this has been documented, that members of the Israeli armed forces actually sometimes take part in these acts, or rather support and protect the settlers.”
Sports clubs in settlements
Just a few days ago, Israeli soldiers stormed the Abu Dis sports club in the West Bank. They interrogated 15 members. The Israeli military describes actions like these as “preventative counterterrorism.” And in addition, the partly right-wing extremist Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is massively pushing forward the occupation, which the International Court of Justice has classified as violating international law. There are now said to be more than 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied areas of the West Bank.
And these settlers also emphasize their territorial claims with the help of sport. Palestinian official Shalabi complains that at least nine Israeli football clubs are active in the settlements: “The sports fields of these clubs were built on land that was previously confiscated from Palestinian owners. And now the rightful owners are no longer allowed to enter these places. These sports clubs support settlers who repeatedly attack Palestinian villages.”
FIFA postpones the decision
A Human Rights Watch report shows that Israeli settler associations’ properties were previously used by Palestinian farmers. The human rights organization argues that through these sports clubs, FIFA also indirectly contributes to the maintenance of settlements that violate international law. The clubs are organized in the Israeli Football Association, which is a FIFA member.
“We have been complaining to FIFA for more than ten years,” complains Susan Shalabi from the Palestinian association. “We were supported by members of parliament from Great Britain and Switzerland, among others, and even by some Jewish organizations. But unfortunately nothing has happened so far.”
Solidarity from the global south
In 2017, a FIFA committee threatened sanctions against Israel, but the debate died down again. Most recently, during the Gaza War, several national football associations, especially from the Arab world, called for tougher action against the Israeli association. But FIFA postponed a decision on this several times. And the Israeli Football Association left a query from Deutschlandfunk on the subject unanswered.
Palestinian sports officials like Susan Shalabi miss the solidarity from Western industrialized nations such as Germany, Great Britain and France. Instead, they receive donations from sports associations in Brazil or are invited to charity events in South Africa.
The USA stands with Israel
Jan Busse from the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich states: “While it is rather heterogeneous in European countries, and in the USA too the support is more on the side of Israel, we see this particularly in the global south, i.e. in the originally colonized areas World, huge expressions of solidarity for the rights of Palestinians.”
Israel’s most important ally, the USA, is also a world power in sports, soon to host the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It is unlikely that the USA will take a stand against Israel’s increasingly aggressive settler plans, especially under the new and old President Donald Trump.