(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub on Tuesday said he took full responsibility for an 11th-hour decision to withdraw a bid to have FIFA suspend Israel from the world footballing body.
The surprise decision was announced by Rajoub on Friday at the annual FIFA congress in Zurich, sparking jubilation in Israel but anger among the Palestinians, some of whom have demanded his resignation as head of Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
"I take full responsibility for this matter," he told reporters in Al-Bireh near Ramallah, insisting that the resolution had not been dropped but only suspended.
"From the start, I said this was about sport, not politics."
The PFA had threatened to table a resolution calling on FIFA to suspend Israel over its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players. It had also opposed the participation in the Israeli championships of five clubs located in West Bank settlements.
Rajoub admitted the PFA had come under a lot of pressure from fellow associations as well as from UEFA chief Michel Platini to back off from the move.
"Most of the football associations told us they would vote against us if we presented the motion as it was," he said.
"We modified the motion and froze the suspension until FIFA is able to investigate."
Ahead of the congress, FIFA chief Sepp Blatter travelled to the region for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to try and resolve the dispute.
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