Israel welcomed the avoidance of an "absurd situation" after the Palestinian Football Association on Friday withdrew a motion to expel the Jewish state from FIFA.

"The result of talks at FIFA is positive and I welcome the fact that we didn't arrive at an absurd situation in which a state like Israel would have been suspended from a body whose vocation is, before all, sporting," Israel's assistant foreign affairs minister Tzipi Hotovely said.

Hotovely's comments followed the decision by Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub to withdraw his association's bid to have FIFA suspend Israel from international football.

Palestine, which has been a FIFA member since 1998, had wanted the governing body to expel Israel over its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players.

It had also opposed the participation in the Israeli championships of five clubs located in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Hotovely had a word of warning, however, that Israel would be fast to combat any future bids to expel it.

"In the future we will oppose by all our means states and organisations that want to delegitimise Israel," the minister warned.

"We will not allow them to influence the decisions of international organisations."