South Africa No Honest Mid-East Peace Broker

Reading Middle East related items on the South Africa Department of Foreign Affairs website, is like reading a psychological text book on schizophrenia. In one article, a statement by Foreign Minister Minister Dlamini Zuma at the Annapolis Conference on the Middle East, our government commended both Israel and Palestine for their efforts to achieving peace.

Then in a statement, published less than 48 hours later for the 60th anniversary of the UN Partition, they lambasted Israel (and only Israel) for committing 'indescribable suffering' against the Palestinian people.

The extreme viciousness of the second article, even by South African standards, (which Steve has already blogged about) seems completely irrational. The hyperbolic description of dozens of 'crimes' that Israel has committed against the Palestinian People for 60 years is anything but diplomatic. This is in complete contrast to the balanced tone of the first statement from the Peace Conference. What could possibly account for this dramatic swing in such a short space of time? It's not like Olmert had torn up the Annapolis declaration in the interim.

A management oversight at the department of Foreign Affairs is one possible explanation. There may be rogue elements, which put out this statement without consulting the Foreign Minister. This same theory has been put forward as the reason for South Africa's shocking UN voting record on human rights. But I don't buy it. This government believes in the collective above all else. We have consistently seen that views by officials that run contrary to the Government's positions are just not tolerated.

I think it's South Africa's duplicitous foreign policy at its worst. The virulent condemnation of Israel was designed to appease the Government's more radical friends. The Iranians, Hamas and Hizbollah could not have been too happy to see their steadfast ally South Africa supporting this 'Zionist/Western plot' (the Annapolis Peace Conference) to isolate them internationally. Likewise, some of the powerful local Islamist groups and one particular cabinet minister must have been furious about South Africa's participation. The statement was meant to reassure them that South Africa has not changed sides.

This two faced nature of South African foreign policy towards the Middle East effectively disqualifies it from playing any meaningful role in resolving the conflict. Israelis and Jews could never trust South Africa to be an honest broker. It's strong relationship with Iran et al will always mean that South Africa will have to ultimately take an anti-Israel position. At best South Africa could be allowed to help the Palestinians build democratic institutions. But given the growing totalitarianism of the ruling party (their attitude to the independent media for example) who knows if even this is a good idea.

Comments

[Gary]

Why does the ANC/SACP and the leftist media and academia never condemn the killing of Jewish women and children in Israel by Arab terrorists?

Nothing about the thousands of Jews in Israel, mainly women and children, who have been massacred, by bomb, bullet, fire, and knife in the war of genocide against the Israeli people, known as the intifada.

Nothing about the pregnant Jewish mother and her four terrified small daughters who were executed one by one at Gaza.

Nothing about the five-year-old Danielle Shefi, who was shot dead at point-blank range by an Arab killer while she cowered beneath her parents' bed.

Nothing about the countless Jewish children murdered in the last seven years and the last 80 years in Arab pogroms against Jews in the land of Israel.

Not only do the anti-Zionists who boycott and demonise Israel display gross and racist anti-Semitism, but they are also responsible, to a large extent, for terror against Israeli women and children.

The same way that the demonisation of Jews by Hitler, Goebbels and Der Sterner laid the way for the Holocaust, I believe that the purpose of anti-Zionist propaganda is to pave the way for the genocide of Israel's Jews.

The aggressive anti-Israel lobby encourages not only the murder of Jews but also increases the suffering of ordinary Palestinians by encouraging terrorist movements to continue the conflict.

[The Blacklisted Dictator]

Mike,
You hit the nail on the head when you write: "The virulent condemnation
of Israel was designed to appease the Government's more radical
friends."
It might also be that as South Africa's domestic politics goes into
free-fall, its foreign policy is more than ever up for grabs and will
be controlled by the more radical elements within Mbeki's faltering
administration.
As a result, South Africa will, perhaps more than ever become attached
to its allies Iran and Hamas. It is too easy to say where this is all
leading but I would imagine that many Western countries will become
increasingly concerned about the direction of South Africa's domestic
and foreign politics.
Let's face it.. the Mandela honey-moon is over and South Africa is no
better ( or perhaps a damn sight worse) than the other basket-case
nations that litter this continent.

[Lawrence]

If Jacob Zuma ascends to the presidency, what little moral and ethical safety locks remain in place amidst the ANC hierarchy will give way.

In all seriousness though how is the ANC much worse or any worse than the governments or many prominent well supported political parties of most European nations (esp Scandinavia, Britain - Blair was an exception - Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and France)?

Another thing - the media in SA, whilst it is often critical of ANC misrule blabla, is as one with the ANC in its Jew-nation baiting and that is because the media's job is to tell the predominantly anti-Semitic public what they want to hear, an anti-Semitism the public shares with the ANC. So despite the mutual animosity between the ANC and the SA media, they have more in common than they could ever admit.

[Shaun]

I would like to ask our Minister of intelligence or Foreign affairs to respond to the following problem.
At the height of Apartheid and the world wide oil embargo against South Africa, SASOL was only able to produce about 20% of South Africans’ daily oil consumption, by direct and indirect means American and European companies together supplied SA with a further 40% of it daily consumption, (but this amount dwindled in the late 80’s) Iran stopped supplying South Africa in 1979.
Where did the rest of the oil come from?

Which major Oil producing countries continued to Supply the apartheid Military?
Which major Oil producing organizations supplied the Apartheid police force?

Are these countries now the focus of South African scorn for supporting apartheid, or are they hailed as friends?