I thought thal all the Fifa members were all recognizes countries.Palestine is not a recognized country yet.They must a accept all the Internationals rules in order to get it. Shalom

And was convicted so that is yet another Arab lie. Do they ever tire of their stupid lies? Somehow I doubt it

Can you provide a link? We have been following this story in Britain and noone knows what he's done wrong. He was told he could leave Gaza by Israel to join his team for a match and then they nabbed him. It smacks of intimidation designed to destroy anything positive the Palestinians attempt, including building a national team. Its mean, with potentially devastating consequences for this player. Even he is released will he ever regain his strength to play top class football again?

I remember the case of this player being involved in terror. Stick to football, terrorism just aint cricket.

And jump at the chance to exploit it. Pity Israel doesn't have money like all the Oil rich countries to grease the palms on sponsorship etc to sway them

Yes sure, blame it all on Israel before you know the truth of his criminal case. Google his name for the information you are looking for.

Kudos sweetheart. Thanks. I'll take that last comment back. :) Its really cruel. Somehow this story has got to me more than most.

....for your claim. Thanks. This story has got to me more than most. It's extremely cruel. But if you can provide evidence to change my mind that's fine. What did he do? Specifics with links. Not vague 'terrorist' claims that don't convince anyone.

It is not korrect to mix politics with sports. Becose the football players are not soldiers. It is very unfair whot the palaestinian leeder is doing. I hope that the games will go on in Israel!

Too true, don`t be a terrorist and you won`t end up in jail. I reckon "British football fan" has never kicked a football in his/her life, just using this as an excuse for more Israel bashing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries,[1] both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the ruling regime. Unlike criminal incarceration (imprisonment) imposed upon on conviction following a trial, administrative detention is a forward-looking mechanism. While criminal proceedings have a retrospective focus - they seek to determine whether a defendant committed an offense in the past - the reasoning behind administrative detention often is based upon contentions that the suspect is likely to pose a threat in the future. It is meant to be preventive in nature rather than punitive (see preventive detention). The practice has been criticized by human rights organizations as a breach of civil and political rights. Contents [hide] 1 Counter-terrorism 2 Immigration control 3 Protection of the ruling regime 4 Instances of administrative detention 4.1 Armenia 4.2 Australia 4.3 Brazil 4.4 Burma 4.5 China 4.6 Egypt 4.7 Ireland 4.8 Israel 4.9 Jordan 4.10 United Kingdom 4.11 United States

Israeli authorities claim Mahmoud Sarsak was involved in militant activity, including the training & recruiting of militants & producing explosives.

Nothing, Nada, Zilch. No trial. Nothing. No suggestion of what he has actually done that deserves incarceration for an unspecified number of years without trial and a decimated life and career. Frankly if he actually done something Ynet would have reported it. So therefore we need to conclude he's done nothing. Google his name and all you will find are calls for his release from influential civilians. From politicians to film makers and writers to sportsmen to activists who campaigned to release Gilad Shalit.

as long as there is still one fool who believes them, and there are lots of fools.

Good grief. Israel is not a European country, so inviting it to join UEFA was already giving it too much.