The Israeli football team is due to play England in a return UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday September 8th, at the New Wembley Stadium.

This comes a few weeks after Britain's Foreign Office’s decision to deny the Under 19 Palestinian Football Team entry to the UK. The players were all refused visas on the grounds that they are too poor to enter the UK!!

In 2006, the Palestinian Football Stadium in Gaza was bombed. The Palestinian National Team was prevented from leaving Gaza during the 2004 World Cup qualifiers. Israeli checkpoints, road closures and raids regularly and systematically prevent the Palestinian team from training on its own soil, forcing the players to travel to Egypt in order to use facilities. The travel restrictions placed by Israel upon people in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza makes it very difficult for the Palestinian Football Federation to organise training sessions for the entire team.
In addition to all the obstacles mentioned above, some members of the Palestinian Football Team have been directly affected by the Israeli Occupation. Tareq Al Quoto was killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces, and striker Ziad Al Khourd was banned from travelling and had his house destroyed. It is important to note that the Israeli Football Federation has never demonstrated against their government's criminal acts.

FIFA has nominated the Palestinian National Team as the best developing team despite all the odds and obstacles it faces, and it has jumped 70 places in the rankings since it was enlisted in 1998. This on its own is a great testament to the continuous struggle of the Palestinian team and the Palestinians as a nation in trying to reach their goals and obtain their freedom.

Given all the above, is it not hypocritical for the England team, the Football Association and FIFA to allow one team to engage in international sport that claims to promote internationalism and ‘fair play’, whilst the government of that team’s state uses political and military force to prevent members of another team from being able to practice, to travel to matches, or in the extreme case, to live?

We hereby call on all supporters of justice to take direct action on this issue through legal means. These include but are not limited to a call for a boycott of Israeli Sports and other Israeli Institutions as a message to end this racist unfair treatment of the Palestinians. We can also write to the Football Association and FIFA demanding the suspension of Israel's membership as a sanction for its discriminatory practices.

Adapted from an original email by Waleed Kamal ( wwkamal@hotmail.com)