In Occupied Territory
Justin Horton
This weekend, the day before the men’s football World Cup kicks off in Qatar, the World Team Chess Championship will begin in Jerusalem, Israel. Or so it says in the advertising, but in fact it’s taking place in East Jerusalem. That’s occupied East Jerusalem, occupied since 1967, annexed in 1980 and, in the opinion of most of the world community, not part of Israel at all.
Hosting cultural and sporting events in Israel has been controversial for a long time, and when FIDE, the international chess federation, held its Olympiad in Haifa in 1976, it was boycotted by many affiliate nations. But holding an event in annexed territory is a new one to me.
FIDE was obliged to reschedule both of its major team events this year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Olympiad, scheduled for Moscow, was eventually held in Chennai instead, without Russian participation. The World Team Championship, in which Russia are the reigning champions in both the Open and Women’s categories, was put back several months, and Russian teams were again excluded. The event was allocated to Jerusalem some time ago, but it was only when the venue was announced – the Dan Jerusalem Hotel – that it became clear which part of Jerusalem was meant.
It may be tiresome to compare the way Ukrainians and Palestinians are treated and perceived, since both peoples are victims of great wrongs and great violence. But it is bizarre to remove one nation from a competition because it occupies another and annexes its territory, and then proceed to hold that competition on territory that has been occupied and annexed. This does, however, seem to have escaped the notice of FIDE.
The BDS movement has issued a statement calling for the event to be moved from Israel and observing:
Specifically, by holding the tournament in occupied East Jerusalem, FIDE is reinforcing Israel’s illegal military occupation and its claim of sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem as a whole. The United Nations and the absolute majority of states do not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem and consider its annexation of occupied East Jerusalem as illegal.
FIDE is, normally at any rate, aware of Palestine’s existence: Palestinian teams usually participate in the Olympiad, have done so since 1984, and did so again in Chennai this year. But there is no indication that it has taken the slightest bit of notice of Palestine or the status of East Jerusalem in approving the venue for the forthcoming event. Along with the federations, players and officials participating in the tournament, FIDE is assisting in the slow erasure of Palestine as a nation and of Palestinians as a people.
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The rules of FIFA prohibit a member association holding competitions on the territory of another without permission. The UN’s position is that the settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal, a position confirmed by numerous UN resolutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a 2004 international court of justice ruling. Six Israeli clubs based in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank play in the Israeli football league, in the 3rd, 4th and 5th tiers, organised by the Israel Football Association, which is a member of FIFA. The clubs have not received the permission of the Palestinian Football Association, which is recognised by FIFA as the appropriate footballing authority. The Israeli football association is in violation of FIFA rules by allowing these teams to compete in Israeli leagues. There have been repeated calls for calls on FIFA to prohibit the teams based in illegally occupied territory from playing in the Israeli football league, as FIFA has the power to ban them from FIFA recognised competitions
The Israel’s football association response was to assert that that FIFA has no authority to define what is Israeli territory. Shlomi Barzel of the Israel Football Association said: “It is very simple. This has nothing to do with FIFA. Those areas are disputed.”
In October 2017, FIFA decided not to take any action against six Israeli football clubs, issuing a statement that “The FIFA Council takes note of the documents adopted by international governmental bodies concerning the relationship between Israel and Palestine – such as United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which comprises recommendations without sanctions – but has decided that it should not take any position on their contents.”
The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, effectively threw the Sexwale Report on the issue into the nearest dustbin and announced that Israel would not be sanctioned for its football-related conduct in the region and that “the matter is declared closed and will not be the subject of any further discussion until the legal and/or de facto framework has changed.”
I would not like to hold Israel to a standard that I didn’t want to see being applied to other countries. Prior to the Russian annexation of Crimea FC Sevastopol and SC Tavriya Simferopol, played in the Ukraine’s Premier League. After the annexation Russian football officials, acting without Ukraine’s permission, tried to place the two teams in Russia’s second division. UEFA ruled against this and the clubs were dropped from the Russian football system. Perhaps the same standards could be applied to Israel.