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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Palestinian-Clubs-to-Adidas-Drop-Israel-Football-Association-20180320-0015.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Palestinian-Clubs-to-Adidas-Drop-Israel-Football-Association-20180320-0015.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Palestinian Clubs to Adidas: Drop
Israel Football Association<br>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time">20 March 2018</div>
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<p>Over 130 <strong>Palestinian football</strong> clubs
urged <strong>Adidas </strong>to end its sponsorship
of the <strong>Israel Football Association </strong>(IFA)
over its inclusion of teams based in <strong>illegal
Israeli settlements</strong> across Palestinian land
in the West Bank.</p>
<p>In a letter published Tuesday by the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the Palestinian
clubs told Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted “Adidas is lending
its brand to cover up and whitewash Israel’s human
rights abuses (giving) international cover to Israel’s
illegal settlements.”</p>
<p>Currently there are at least 250 Israeli settlements in
the West Bank. They are normally accompanied by the
expulsion of Palestinians from their land, increased
restrictions on Palestinians’ right to movement due to
roadblocks and checkpoints, resource grabbing, increased
presence of Israeli occupation forces to provide
security, and settler-related violence.</p>
<p>The clubs also warned the sportswear company that the
United Nations has labeled Israeli Jewish-only
settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
a violation of international law and that its
sponsorship of the IFA “may expose it to consumer-led
boycott campaigns.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RELATED: <br>
<em><a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/BDS-Victory-Honda-Moves-Motor-GP-From-Israeli-Settlement-20180222-0013.html">Victory
for BDS Movement: Honda Moves Motor GP From
Israeli Settlement </a></em></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The letter also warns that Adidas could be eligible for
inclusion in the U.N. database of complicit companies
doing business with Israel’s illegal settlements. The
database is a major victory for the pro-Palestinian
Boycott movement.</p>
<p>In 2005 Palestinians launched the BDS campaign, a
nonviolent initiative to pressure Israel to end its
illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan
Heights, to respect the human rights of Palestinians
under occupation, and to recognize Palestinian refugees’
right to return.</p>
<p>Despite attempts to penalize BDS supporters in Israel,
the <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ACLU-Decries-US-Congress-Move-Against-BDS-as-Unconstitutional-20180307-0011.html">United
States</a>, and France, the campaign was recently <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/BDS-Movement-Nominated-for-Nobel-Peace-Prize-20180203-0010.html">nominated</a>
for the Nobel Peace Prize.</p>
<p>The letter also notes a previous victory of the BDS
campaign, when it successfully pressured Adidas to
cancel its sponsorship of the “Jerusalem marathon, which
illegally passed through occupied East Jerusalem.”</p>
<p>The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel has also launched a <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/adidas">petition</a>,
“No Fair Play on Stolen Land,” calling on Adidas to end
its sponsorship of the IFA.</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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