Susan Shalabivice president of the Palestinian Football Federation and member of the Executive Committee of the Asian Football Confederation spoke to the sports daily Brand taking stock of the situation in Palestine for a year now: “What is happening is nothing more than genocide being broadcast live amid deafening silence. Thousands of children are killed, humanitarian aid agencies are attacked, schools and hospitals are destroyed. People die due to continuous air attacks or indiscriminate bombings, but also from disease and malnutrition. The brutal reality is that anyone is a target, any Palestinian who is not suffering the worst atrocities imaginable lives every day under existential threat praying for an end to this genocide and feeling frustrated at their collective inability to do anything that will make a difference. – continues Shalabi – While Gaza is razed to the ground, the occupation forces the Palestinian population of the West Bank to move to the central cities which, however, can be closed at any time and for any reason, making them become open-air cages. Illegal settlements dominate from every direction, strategically placed on hilltops and expanding every day, controlling natural resources.”
Then there is room for the situation of Palestinian football: “We had to suspend the championship due to the war and the continuous danger for the teams and fans traveling between the various cities. Other collective sports are also suspended, our men’s national team had to ‘camp’ abroad for long periods during the World Cup qualifiers, players forced to stay away from their families for months, while others played under unbearable psychological pressure such as not knowing the fate of their loved ones in Gaza. – continues the Palestinian leader – At a grassroots level we have tried to organize activities for children, to help them cope with pain and losses, however our efforts have not always been successful due to the difficult circumstances we live in. But we must find a way to give hope to young people.”
Shalabi then also focuses on infrastructure and stadiums: “It was all destroyed or severely damaged, the historic Al-Yarmuk stadium was used by the Israeli army as a concentration camp where Palestinians were detained, humiliated and tortured. Other camps have even been turned into cemeteries due to lack of space. In terms of human lives, we have lost at least 353 footballers, 91 of which are minors, in addition to 108 athletes and 85 scouts. But we still don’t know the fate of many others.”
Finally, the attack on FIFA and the football institutions: “We reported the violations to both FIFA and the AFC, we presented a formal proposal in which we asked to address the continuous violations committed by the Israeli Football Federation, including the inclusion of clubs from legal settlements, documented cases of racism against non-Jews and complicity in their government’s actions. FIFA independently assigned legal counsel and the results could not disprove our claims. The matter has thus been referred to the Compliance and Discipline Committees and we know what that means. However, with the year now over, no action has been taken at FIFA nor a time period set for the investigation. If you ask me for a personal opinion I would say that FIFA has done nothing. The ACF has publicly expressed support for our requests, but Israel is a member of UEFA. – concludes Shalabi – There are documented cases of Israeli players and clubs who incite genocide and support it, but do not suffer any sanctions unlike those players who were punished for much less just for supporting our cause. I wonder if we live on a different planet or if we are victims of a double standard”.