Why does FIFA still recognise Israeli settlement teams?

This week FIFA's senior representative, Tokyo Sexwale, will throw his hat into the ring as he attempts to resolve disagreements between Israeli and Palestinian football associations. The disputes are over Israeli restrictions placed on the movement of Palestinian players and the participation of at least five Israeli football clubs in Israeli leagues - two issues which Palestinians claim contravene FIFA's own rules. While progress has been achieved on movement for Palestinian players, the issue of settlement teams remains intractable. Their inclusion within Israeli leagues is the manifestation of a political process that seeks to normalise Israel's claim to the Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967. In this context, football has become a tool to legitimise the expanding settlements as an integral part of Israel.