OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.30PM.
DEPUTY President Tabo Mbeki has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of buying time to implement his own programmes rather than working towards peace in the Middle East.
Speaking after a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Cape Town, he said it was surprising that Netanyahu had not accepted the United States’ peace proposals.
“It seems to us that all that Netanyahu is doing is to try to buy time to implement his programmes, rather than to work for peace for the whole Middle East region,” Mbeki said.
Earlier Arafat attended a colourful welcoming ceremony outside the president’s Cape Town office to kick off his two-day state visit to South Africa. Mbeki and the male members of the South African Cabinet were on hand to welcome him.
President Nelson Mandela invested Arafat with South Africa’s highest civilian honour, the Order of Good Hope, normally reserved for foreign heads of state. In return, Arafat gave Mandela Palestine’s highest decoration, the Star of Holy Jerusalem, for his continued support of an independent Palestinian state.