South African deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, speaking at the recent UN African Meeting on the Question in Palestine, unequivocally revealed South Africa’s naked partisan support for the Palestinians. (Statement by Aziz Pahad.) It is now apparent that the noxious views of Ronnie Kasrils are more reflective of President Mbeki’s cabinet than we were willing to realise.
Pahad’s speech was worrying for a number of reasons. Firstly, he endorsed Kasrils’ invite to Hamas to visit South Africa and secondly, he refers to all of Israel as the Palestinians’ original and therefore rightful, land.
Pahad speaks of Africa’s commitment to strengthen international solidarity in aid of the Palestinians. If only we would hear of this African solidarity committed to ending the suffering and oppression in Zimbabwe and Darfur.
| It is unacceptable that 60 years after the founding of Israel and 40 years after the 1967 war the reality today is that the Palestinians control only 23% of their original land and even this is being threatened by increasing settlements, the "Apartheid" Wall and the threat by Israel to disengage unilaterally. What can we do to assist the Palestinians to achieve their self-determination? In the end we must be guided by the Palestinians. As we confront this challenge we are acutely conscious, as you have discussed, that the UN Security Council has been unable to find a solution. Israel is the only country in the world that rejects all Resolutions with impunity and the US has consistently used its veto to prevent the UNSC from taking any effective action against Israel. |
Pahad also called on Israel to agree to the Saudi initiative. Unfortunately it seems that the Saudi plan has won a tremendous propaganda victory for the Palestinians. After proposing a deal which Israel could not possible accept (and denying them the right to negotiate any aspects of the deal) the Arab drafters of the plan are now seen as the courageous peacebrokers and the Israelis are cast as the intrepid rejectionists.
Today things got worse as the Jerusalem Post reported that the South African government has now backed Minister Kasrils’ invitation to Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh. The date has not been finalised but he will soon be visiting our shores.
Outrageously, Minister Kasrils (who initially denied issuing a formal invite) told the Jerusalem Post that Hamas has renounced violence, recognised Israel, and has agreed to recognise past agreements between Israel and the PA (the agreements were actually with the PLO). Perhaps Kasrils has been watching too much Mickey Mouse?
We often receive copies of letters that readers send in to the press and a letter copied to us last week provides an excellent response to both the statements of Ministers Kasrils and Pahad.
What is the logic behind Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad’s call for Israel to begin serious negotiations to normalize its relations with the Palestinians. Who exactly should Israel talk to about establishing a Palestinian state side by side with Israel? (Israel should talk –Citizen 10 May) The Hamas Fatah Unity Government? Just this week Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said the programme of the proposed unity government between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction “will not recognise Israel and will not include accepting the two-state solution … We reject the two-state solution, which is the vision of US President George Bush, because it represents a clear recognition of Israel,” Barhoum said. (as reported in Pakistan Daily Times 3 May). I assume Pahad approved of sanctions against the apartheid government which resulted in the democracy we have today yet he calls on the EU and the US to drop sanctions against a government who refuses to renounce violence and accept the existence of its proposed peace partner. If South Africa really wants to help effect peace, its Ministers should encourage the Palestinian people to produce and vote for leaders of moral integrity, instead of issuing invitations, formal or otherwise to hate mongers who capitalize on their own people’s suffering. |
Israel has to deal with the Palestinians or perish. Israel's present course of action is perilous, as it relies utterly on the guarantee of American support.
There is no question that the American political climate is changing drastically,and the electorate very leery of making more of a mess in the Middle East than they already have.
Americans have learned a lot about Arabs and Arab culture due to the Iraq war and there is a rising sympathy for the Arab position,even amongst Jews, on purely democratic grounds.
There is deep Jewish discomfort about how the situation vis-a-vis Palestinians has deteriorated to the ridiculous position Israel is self-generated. Support for Zionism is no longer absolute in the American Jewish community.
Time for good old South African Zionism to wake up. The situation in Israel/Palestine has to change, or Israel will be gone. Nobody wants that.
For the record I am a South African Jew, one-time resident of Israel. A big part of my family lives there, so I'm not looking for Israel's destruction. Quite the reverse.Like all Jews I want peace.
I suggest you get to know some Arabs, the way so many Israelis have. You might stop being so terrified, stuck in time in Begin's brain.
Shalom, en vrede aan almal
Posted by: John Baskind | May 14, 2007 at 00:56
Hello, John.
What an enlightening comment. Really, I must say--especially as I am in America at the moment, and I can detect no drop in US support for Israel.
In fact, quite the opposite. A new poll by Stanley Greenberg--who was the ANC's pollster in the 1994 elections--shows that American support for Israel is at an "all-time high." People are buying Carter's book but not his bull.
I love how you imply that the hosts of this blog don't know any Arabs and are stuck in some retrograde mentality. You've really set the bar for engaging alternative points of view, and openness to dialogue. Really.
I don't mind being stuck in Begin's brain if the alternative is Aziz's arse, which is clearly where you are at the moment.
Shalom and get a life!
Posted by: Joel Pollak | May 14, 2007 at 02:25
Hi John,
As Joel has already mentioned, your analysis of American foreign policy is extremely limited. Contrary to most conspiracy theories, American Jews do not determine America’s foreign policy towards Israel. The tremendous support for Israel amongst the Republican Party has much more to do with the Christian right than the Jewish lobby. If anything this religious solidarity is growing not declining.
While Jews may have a significant influence in the Democratic Party, their support for Israel goes far deeper than this. Americans see Israel as a bastion of freedom in a sea of tyranny. It is a frontline state in the war against Islamism. There are tremendous parallels between the founding myths of America and Israel. This and not Jewish money is the basis of their support.
For the record, I have met with many Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. I understand their grievances. And I agree that Israel for its own survival needs to find a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. If you took some time to read this blog you would see that our views are much more nuanced than you give us credit for. I would argue Begin’s views were also. He did after all give up more land than any other Israeli Prime Minister in history. John, rather it is you like Mr Pahad who seem to lack the ability to comprehend the complexity of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Posted by: Mike | May 14, 2007 at 11:52
John
What do you expect Israelis to actually do against an enemy i.e Hamas/Hezbullah/Al Aksa Murderers Brigade/ISM/Iran/Syria/Libya that will be satisified with nothing less than the destruction of every Jew between the Jordan and the Medditaranean, to the last child.
what do you think they mean when they chant 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'
Barak offred the PLO all he could possibly offer, short of Israel's total destruction and in response Arafat (may his name be erased and forgotten) launched a war of terror against the Israeli people, resulting in the murder of thousands of Jews, including 123 children.
Maybe you need to stop swallowing all that politically correct garbage and wake up to the true facts of the conflict-something which virtually nobody on the international left is prepared to do.
They are all so stuck in their 'burn Israel' mindset.
Posted by: Gary | May 14, 2007 at 17:01
Alas, you'll never get rationality or objectivity from a leftist, regarding Israel.
Posted by: Gary | May 14, 2007 at 18:14
I think you may remove the word "Almost" from your blog name now.
Scary, scary stuff.
Posted by: Derikboy | May 14, 2007 at 21:18
John's little red herring hijacked the comments! The real issue here, and the one most overlooked is that this statement by Pahad represents a significant change in, if not the underlying philosophy, then at least the rhetoric of the SA government with respect to Israel and her friendly Palestinian neighbours with their nifty Mickey Mouse cartoons.
The crucial question is how this will affect the status, security and comfort of the SA Jewish Community, if at all, and what should be done to ameliorate, mitigate or otherwise deal with what appears to be a significant change in tac.
Posted by: Hillel | May 15, 2007 at 07:24
Hi Hillel,
You make a good point. The scary thing is that I have always heard praise for Aziz from the communal leaders.
The government sends such mixed messages that I am uncertain whether this indicates a real change. Remember, not so long ago they petitioned against Israel's security barrier at the ICJ. Has much changed since then?
Your other point about the security, status and comfort of SA Jewry is an important one.
As for security, I don't think these statements have any impact. The security situation we fear is the same situation (general violent crime) feared by all South Africans.
As for status, I think that the status of all minority groups in SA is subject to bullying tactics by govt. Govt does not endear to diverse opinions amongst minority groups when it comes to policies and worldviews. Remember how kasrils just recently pleaded for SA Jewry to agree with his positions? That is clearly a message from government...from one of the most senior members of Mbeki's cabinet. The JBoard should have responded. Perhaps they don't want to because "we need Ronnie for security and intel". What rubbish!
Comfort I guess is a mixture of security and status. I think general crime affects comfort much more than any government positions on the Middle East.
Posted by: Steve | May 15, 2007 at 09:44
Derikboy, did you watch the Mickey Mouse video? That is supernatural :)
I think this is the link
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hcmHvczBGqg
Posted by: Steve | May 15, 2007 at 10:02
John is just another 'with it' Jew , trying to take the trendy lefty approach ,at the risk of genocide against 5 million Jews.
These lefty Jews really feel nothing for their fellow Jews in Israel.
It is sicK!
Posted by: Gary | May 15, 2007 at 11:32
Steve, you are right. That is some super-duper-unnatural Mickey Mouse. You know, I've seen some pretty weird stuff on the internet, but this blog has always pointed me to the REALLY crazy freaky stuff.
Thanks Guys!
Posted by: Derikboy | May 16, 2007 at 14:45