Less than a day after the FIFA voted over the football version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we can see that the reactions, interpretations and excuses from the Palestinian and the Jordanian sides are flooding the media, internet and the streets.
Jibril Rajoub, an experienced politician, described the campaign as successful and was proud of the fact that from now on an official committee of FIFA will be responsible for the communications between the Israeli and Palestinian associations, throughout each course. In addition, the fact that he managed to press Israel until the 90th minute in a major international event, is a huge victory for him personally.
Rajoub’s decision to withdraw the petition to remove Israel from FIFA, the establishment of a committee to settle, and the transfer of the section on the settlement clubs to the United Nations, has been received in ambivalent reactions in the Arab world. To his surprise, most of them were negative.
"Culture Shock", "Surprise" were the headlines appeared in the sports pages on the Internet and in Palestinian newspapers as al-Shaab and Al-Quds. Arch-rivals Hamas were quick and criticized the "weak fold towards the Zionist entity was a silly and an unclear step."
A Palestinian journalist wrote: "Given the momentum this campaign gained, everyone here expected Jibril will go with his ‘head against the wall’ ‘till the end. It was pretty obvious that the proposal will not pass, but at least the world would see that we, the Palestinians are not giving up, and that we are going with our truth no matter what”. Another journalist added: "The red card he pulled out was unnecessary. The Palestinian problem is a serious and important issue and there is no need for graphic accessories to to illustrate it. You just have to talk like a man. Rajoub, normally a master for these occasions, just did not handle it ".
On social networks the words "traitor", "collaborator" appeared in thousands of comments, and phrases such as "Red card for Rajoub ", "Resign, before we do it for you" filled tweets and statuses. If that's not enough, a series of cartoons showing Rajoub in a ridicule and spineless scattered, became extremely viral.
The only favorable reactions he received came from the Palestinian Authority and media affiliated with Fatah and the PLO, who praised the achievements of the Palestinian Association chairman, calling the decisions to withdraw the complaint and shake hands with his Israeli counterpart as "brave." In addition, the Authority‘s press officer, Abdul Nasser Alnagar, called the move "as more than successful. We sent to Israel the message that they will have to come to us and provide gestures in order to progress, in sports, and in general".
Reports published today which say that Rajoub voted to Sepp Blatter for FIFA presidency, despite declares of supporting the Jordanian Prince Ali for the title. This led to a strong reaction from the Jordanian media and association since Rajoub is a Jordanian citizen. Hate articles summarizing Rajoub's exploits against Jordanians during his Fatah activities were published in the major newspapers of the Kingdom. Palestinian sources reported that despite the denials of Rajoub to vote for Blatter, his Jordanian citizenship revocation process is already underway.
The Palestinian petition to FIFA can be crowned a success by the fact that Israel remained tense until the last minute, the legitimacy of Israel’s activities were put to question, and from now on will be a change in the way of work and the relationship between Israel and Palestinian associations.
The Palestinian people saw his performance as a demonstration of weakness, and the handshake with Ofer Eini as an expression for ‘normalization’ between Israelis and Palestinians, something that the residents of the refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip consider very seriously.
Jordanians, were initially against the move to remove Israel but supported it since they didn’t had any choice as a fellow Arab country, are now outraged by the suspicions of the Palestinians voting against Prince Ali. Even Egypt, which in an unprecedented move publicly supported Prince Ali, criticized the fact that Rajoub did not support the Jordanian candidate.
For two weeks Rajoub was on top of the world. Blatter and Eini went to Ramallah in order to calm him down, and to convince him to give up his petition. Foreign media pursued him consistently. His pictures appeared in every newspaper, and in any language. It seemed that lately, the worldwide face of the Palestinian struggle was the face of Rajoub. But after giving in to pressure from Blatter and Eini, his reputation in the Palestinian street fell, and the speculation over voting for Blatter made the Jordanians to seek his head.
Many saw the vote results as an Israeli tie at the 90th minute, but the truth is that what happened yesterday was actually the first chapter in a series of boxing fights. Yesterday the Palestinians won on points, but lost some important momentum. It will be interesting to see whether Rajoub will remain the dominant figure in the National Boxing Team of Palestine, for the next rounds, whether in FIFA, at the Olympic Committee or at any other international organization.