Times Record News · Wichita Falls, Texas · 21 January 2011
CP-2011-004
IOC holds talks over Israel-Palestinian ties
By Graham Dunbar, Associated Press
Transcribed from the clipping
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Israeli and Palestinian Olympic officials met Thursday to begin building closer ties and help send stronger teams to the 2012 London Games.
IOC President Jacques Rogge brokered a five-hour gathering at Olympic headquarters that addressed lifting Israeli travel restrictions to allow Palestinian athletes and coaches more access between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian athletes were promised IOC funding and Israeli support to prepare for the London Olympics.
The parties hailed the “positive and constructive” meeting, and agreed to study the travel issues before returning to Lausanne in March. That's when they plan to present proposals to their governments. “We believe that through sport we can make a difference.
I hope today we made the first steps,” Efraim Zinger, secretary-general of the Israeli Olympic committee, told The Associated Press. Zinger described Palestinian Olympic leader Jibril Rajoub as a partner in the process. Rajoub said it was “a common choice for everybody” at the meeting to seek ways to help Palestinian athletes and teams compete internationally.
“It is my dream as Palestinian national Olympic committee president to participate in next year's Olympic Games by an army of athletes,” Rajoub told the AP. Only four Palestinian athletes competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, even though the team is entitled to additional help through the IOC's solidarity program.
Zinger said Israel was committed to hosting the Palestinian team at training camps and coaching seminars, and share its knowledge of sports science and medicine. “We are there and in advance we said ‘Yes' for any request regarding assistance for the preparation of Palestinian athletes for the Olympic Games,” Zinger said.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Israel also sought IOC help to increase its participation in Olympics sports. There was discussion of Israel and Palestine being accepted into the Mediterranean Games, a quadrennial multisports event that will be hosted by Greece in 2013.
Cite this item
"IOC holds talks over Israel-Palestinian ties," Times Record News, 21 January 2011. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2011-004. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2011-004
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