In the run-up to the vote at soccer' governing body FIFA on Israeli teams beyond the 1949 Armistice Line, Member of Knesset Zouheir Bahloul (Zionist Union) has offered himself as a mediator to Chairman Jibril Rajoub of the Palestinian Authority's football association, to advance an agreed-upon solution to the crisis.
Bahloul said, "Sport and football have always been a tool for bridging peoples and bringing people closer together. Political issues should be avoided as far as these worlds are concerned.Those who struggle to end the conflict must use football as an arena that can bring Palestinians and Israelis closer together, reduce hatred and polarization in order to prove that a different reality can be maintained here." His call came a day after a suit was filed against Rajoub and his association for taking a diametrically-opposite approach.