Israel/Palestine: FIFA Sponsoring Games on Seized Land

(Jerusalem, September 26, 2016) – FIFA, the worldwide football association, is sponsoring matches in Israeli settlements in the West Bank on land unlawfully taken from Palestinians, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing new research. To fulfill its human rights responsibilities, FIFA should require its affiliate, the Israel Football Association, which is conducting business in unlawful settlements that are off-limits to Palestinians, to move all FIFA-sanctioned games and activities inside Israel.
“By holding games on stolen land, FIFA is tarnishing the beautiful game of football,” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine country director at Human Rights Watch. “FIFA has new leadership and has made new commitments to human rights this year. FIFA should step up now to give settlement clubs a red card and insist the Israel Football Association play by the rules.” Human Rights Watch investigated the situation of football clubs that play in the Israel Football Association (IFA) but hold their official matches outside Israel, on fields located in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured and occupied in 1967. Settlements are unlawful under international humanitarian law (IHL) because the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into the occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and is a war crime. Settlements are built on land seized from Palestinians.