Shock waves from the Middle-East have now spread to South Africa with violent protests in Pretoria that left two policemen injured – and former president Nelson Mandela has offered to mediate in the crisis.
Mandela “is very active … in the peace process; he will contribute, but he will wait for President Thabo Mbeki to discuss this contribution,” foreign affairs deputy director general Jerry Matsila told reporters at the pro-Palestinian demonstration in Pretoria.
At the protest on Friday police turned a water cannon on the 1000-strong crowd after attempting to keep them back using vehicles and shields.
Superintendent Koos van Rhyn, who had earlier been hit on the head by a bottle thrown by one of the 100 or so demonstrators who took part in the violence, was bleeding profusely at the scene. An unidentified policeman was stabbed and was taken to hospital.
Matsila appealed to South Africans to act with restraint and within the law. “We know there is anger and pain. Close to 100 Palestinians have died. We believe we don’t have to add one more body to these many bodies.”
Mandela came up with a three-point peace-plan for the Middle East in October last year after visiting the region.
Under it, Israel would withdraw from Arab land it has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, Arab states would recognise Israel’s sovereignty, and an international commission would be set up to resolve questions such as the status of Jerusalem and the future of Jewish settlers on the West Bank.
The former president complained in February however that the big powers were ignoring his initiative, adding: “If America starts an initiative, then France undermines it, and then Russia undermines them.”
In August, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat visited South Africa and issued an impassioned plea to Mandela to intervene.
“I have been asked, but my reply is that this cannot be an individual initiative,” Mandela said in reply.
The 82-year-old Mandela said that he had agreed to carry out a special request for Arafat, details of which he refused to disclose.
The conflict has also sent the price of crude oil to over $36 a barrel, the highest price since the Gulf War in 1991, which analysts say will in turn drive the price of SA petrol and diesel higher.