Violence in the West Bank has surged in recent months as Israel has escalated nightly arrest raids, making 2022 the deadliest in the occupied territory since 2006.
FIFA also announced on Thursday that a temporary consular service would assist Israelis in Doha during the tournament. Some 3,800 Israelis and 8,000 Palestinians have applied for the Hayya card, which acts as an entry visa to Qatar for the soccer tournament.
“Consular services for Israeli citizens will be provided in coordination with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a designated privately operated international travel company based in Doha,” FIFA said.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the agreement as the result “hard work over the course of many months.”
A Qatari government statement said the travel arrangement for Israeli citizens was “part of Qatar’s commitment to FIFA’s hosting requirements and it should not be politicized.”
Israel has previously made inroads into the region in part due to international events. Dubai’s Expo 2020 world’s fair saw Israel participate. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel two years ago.
To head off criticism, Qatar stressed that “its stance on normalization has not changed” and that the country continues to support the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as the solution to the decades-old conflict. There have been no serious peace talks in more than a decade.
“As of late, we have not seen any positive developments in the peace process that would merit a change in our policy,” the Qatari government added.
Qatar consented to welcoming all fans into the country when it started campaigning to host the World Cup, and when it signed contracts with FIFA after winning the vote in December 2010. A similar obligation was made to respect FIFA commercial partners by easing Qatar’s strict limits on the consumption and purchase of alcohol so it could be served at official World Cup sites.
The tournament — the first World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East and an Arab nation — runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18.
However, Israeli and Palestinian fans won’t be rooting for their national teams. The Israeli national team, which has not played in Asian qualifying for the World Cup since the 1970s for security reasons, did not advance to the tournament in Qatar from its European group. The Palestinian team was eliminated in a preliminary qualifying group won by Saudi Arabia.
Only fans with match tickets are allowed to enter Qatar until Dec. 2 to ease the demand on a limited supply of accommodation in the tiny emirate when all 32 teams are still playing. Ticketless fans can arrive later, in time for the first knockout round of 16 teams.
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