Israel vs Palestine: Palestinian Football Association seeks to have Israel barred from Fifa

Israel will seek to scupper an attempt by the Palestinian Football Association to suspend the Jewish state from Fifa, the world soccer's governing body.

Israeli FA (IFA) chairman Ofer Eini and chief executive Rotem Kemer are due to meet Fifa president Sepp Blatter in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday 6 May to try to torpedo the plan before it is raised at the organisation's annual Congress in Zurich on 29 May.

The Palestinians claim that Israel has continued to hamper its soccer activities, imposing restrictions on the movement of their athletes between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

However, Israel cites security concerns for restrictions it imposes in the West Bank and on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Eini has sent a letter to the heads of all 209 associations, insisting that the IFA had co-operated with Fifa.

"The meeting with Fifa president Sepp Blatter is very significant in our fight to cancel the possibility of a vote being held at the congress in order to suspend Israel," Eini told the Jerusalem Post.

"We will not allow for Israel to be presented as a country which violated the agreements which it signed and we will do all in our power to prevent any kind of ban. I certainly expect the Fifa president to speak out loud and clear on this matter and to prevent this malicious move."

PFA president Jibril Rajoub told Reuters that Israel was "persecuting Palestinian footballers, athletes and the movement of sporting equipment".

A three-quarters majority of Fifa's 209 members is required for the Palestinian proposal to succeed.