Has Mbeki Changed His Line on Israel

President Mbeki's recent statement of support for Ariel Sharon has confused the Cape Times (subscribers only). In an official statement of sympathy last week President Mbeki said

It is our wish and hope that you will recover to resume your responsibility in leading the government and people of Israel

The Cape Times are confused by the ambiguity of the South African position on Israel. It was South Africa after all, who joined ranks with Arab regimes in taking a case against Israel's security barrier to the International Court of Justice. Furthermore

In a speech, delivered on Mbeki`s behalf to a UN "solidarity with Palestine" rally in Pretoria in 2003, Essop Pahad, Minister without portfolio in the Presidency, went further. The wall, he said, was an apartheid measure, designed to keep Jews and Palestinians apart. His view echoed the UN resolution equating Zionism with apartheid and racism - a decision triumphantly endorsed by the ANC at the time.

Mbeki's hope that Sharon continues to govern Israel is a far cry from all this.

But I think the change took place along time ago as is suggested by this letter of support and praise that President Mbeki sent to PM Ariel Sharon after the disengagement from Gaza.

Other indications of Mbeki's change in attitude to Israel: the improving trade between South Africa and Israel and the recent state visit by Israeli Deputy PM Ehud Olmert (accompanied with 23 business leaders) to South Africa. Even before that visit South Africa held host to a group of Likud politicians.

But what of all these mixed signals? Does it really indicate a change in attitude towards Israel?

No, as we have seen over and again in the case of Zimbabwe, Mbeki prefers a diplomatic style he considers quiet and nuanced. It is nothing of the sort. It simply obscures his real intentions sowing doubt in the minds of his allies and deepening his enemies mistrust.

Comments

[James Clark]

Maybe Mbeki recognizes that Sharon was the best hope for Palestine...