IAAF agrees to review Morocco-Israel dispute

The International Athletics Amateur Federation (IAAF) has agreed to hear both the Moroccan and Israeli federations on the dispute opposing the two sides regarding the entry visa to the Moroccan territory, the IAAF president said on Monday.

In a statement to the Moroccan news agency, the IAAF chief, Primo Nebiolo, who attended the African Athletics Union meeting last weekend in Dakar, said the two federations will be heard by the IAAF council during its upcoming meeting in November.

The IAAF made this decision after the African Athletics Union called it to lift the sanctions imposed on Morocco by the world athletics governing body.

The IAAF decided recently to ban Morocco from organizing any international athletic events after an Israeli sports delegation claimed that Morocco had denied it an entry visa to the Kingdom to take part in the world cross country championships which were organized in Marrakesh (Southern Morocco) last March.

In a resolution unanimously adopted by its governing board, the African Athletics Union urged the IAAF to annul the decision as it was based on mere Israeli allegations and invited the IAAF to conduct an enquiry and to hear both the Moroccan and Israeli versions of the incident to shed light on the issue.

The IAAF chief said that he was embarrassed by the sanctions imposed on Morocco and affirmed that the IAAF will settle the issue the soonest possible.