FIFA envoy meets Netanyahu, Abbas over Palestinian demands

FIFA says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have met with its envoy trying to broker better relations between the two sides’ soccer federations.

FIFA says its monitoring committee chairman, Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa, held separate talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday and Tuesday.

It says the organization’s president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura “have both committed to visiting the region at the appropriate time in the near future.”

Palestinian soccer leaders want Israel expelled from FIFA over security restrictions on players and opposing teams moving in and out of its territories, plus Israel allowing clubs from West Bank settlements to play in its competitions.

— AP