A guest column argues that with about 48 wars still active worldwide, humanity should stop treating war as a normal way to settle disputes. The writer says conflicts kill, wound and displace thousands, and that wars do not truly resolve disagreements, but instead deepen hatred and eventually end in negotiations and agreements anyway.
The proposal, presented on behalf of IPELC, the International Forum for Literature and the Culture of Peace, is for countries and peoples in conflict to send their young people to compete on football pitches instead of battlefields. The writer says football is a universal language based on rules, skill, discipline and respect, and that both teams leave alive when the match ends.
The column calls on FIFA's 2026 World Cup to become a historic tournament for world peace. Under the idea, if two peoples face a dispute that could turn into war, they would compete on the football field, and the winner would not gain the right to conquer or humiliate the other side. Instead, the winner would be tasked with proposing a fair and practical solution, after which both sides would meet with professional mediators to turn that proposal into a peace agreement.
The piece says the real victory would be preventing war and saving lives. It notes that football alone cannot solve every conflict, but neither can bombs, and argues that peace requires courage, imagination, fairness and negotiation. The author says humanity has already abolished slavery and outlawed dueling, and should now do the same with war. The column ends with a call to choose life, fair play and global peace, and identifies the writer as a sociologist, peace researcher, author, poet, and founder and president of IPELC. It also includes a Ynet invitation for readers who want to become commentators to send pieces to kick@ynet.co.il, in a Word file or body email, with full name, 250 to 800 words, and no photos, tables or graphs.
