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Palestinian Football Association calls on international community to protect sports facilities

December 28, 2023 at 1:53 pm

Palestinian women ride bicycles at Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium on April 28, 2021 [MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images]

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has appealed to the International Olympic Committee, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and other international and continental confederations and relevant entities for immediate action against Israel for its serious violations at the Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza. The PFA is insisting on the occupation state being brought to account.

The Israeli occupation forces are using the stadium as a detention centre where civilians are detained, mistreated and interrogated, said the PFA today. It is demanding the safeguarding of Palestinian sports facilities and denounced the Israeli use of the Yarmouk Stadium as a blatant violation of the Olympic Charter, along with all other applicable continental and international laws and conventions.

Furthermore, the PFA criticised Israel’s measures as part of its broader assault on youth, sports and scout movements within occupied Palestine.

The historic stadium, one of the oldest in Palestine, has been impacted significantly by the ongoing Israeli invasion and military offensive. The PFA has despatched urgent letters detailing the challenges confronted by sports in Palestine and called for immediate action. The letters also call for an urgent international investigation into the Zionist state’s crimes against sports and athletes in Palestine.

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