What does Israel’s West Bank settlement policy have to do with international soccer?

Dr. James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, is the leading world expert on this subject. He is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, a book that among other things explores the topic of this episode's discussion. Dorsey closely follows the way in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict plays out on the soccer field, in FIFA, the international soccer association.

FIFA is expected to take up the issue of Israel's establishing soccer clubs in West Bank settlements in the upcoming meeting of its governing bodies in Manama, Bahrain, on May 9th 2017.  

Dr. Dorsey joined us by Skype from his home in Singapore. Apologies for the subpar audio quality.

James M. Dorsey

This episode is a treat. It is a recording of APN’s first in a series of storytelling events, modeled after the popular storytelling show The Moth. We call ours “The Dove.” Ours focuses on stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, personal stories that inspire hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

This show features US journalists Barbara Slavin and Tim Phelps, Palestinian journalist Nadia Bilbassy, Ori Nir, formerly with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, and Noa Baum, the show’s host, a professional storyteller, educator and author.

The show was recorded on April 6th, 2017 at Washington DC’s Busboys and Poets.

This show of The Dove is the first in a series. If you have ideas for future storytellers, please contact us at onir@peacenow.org and if YOU have a story to tell about hope for Middle East peace, which you are willing to share it with us, please send it, preferably as an MP3 audio file attachment, and we may feature you on our podcast or in one of our upcoming events of the Dove.