Durban | Monday
MOVES are afoot for South African President Thabo Mbeki to take a major role in Middle East negotiations, several sources said on Sunday as charges of genocide against Israel dominated a UN conference on racism in the east coast city of Durban.
Mbeki met in Durban on Saturday with Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat, and on Thursday met for two-and-a-half hours with Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli cabinet minister.
Two South African newspapers, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Independent, both reported that Mbeki was likely to take a major role.
Beilin said in Cape Town on Sunday that South Africa was in a unique position to play a constructive role in ending the Middle East conflict.
He said the fact that Mbeki and his government were trusted by the Palestinians and were “not untrusted” by the Israelis, would be of great assistance.
Mbeki and his government are trusted by the Palestinians and “not untrusted” by the Israelis. Although the Palestinians also trusted others, such as Libya and Iran, these countries were not trusted by the Israelis, he said.
Beilin, who was justice minister under Ehud Barak, and also held ministerial positions under Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, said South Africa “undoubtedly” had a role to play.
There was currently a vacuum in the Middle East peace process, as the “Americans are not there”, he said.
However, Beilin said, it would not necessarily take the biggest superpower to help in the Middle East, and South Africa, provided there was a “will, availability, and trust”, could play a major role.
The Sunday Independent said Beilin had proposed a major role for Mbeki.
“In terms of Beilin’s plan, which already has the tacit support of key elements in the European Union, Washington and the UN, South Africa would become a key facilitator in the reconvening of Middle East talks that began in Madrid in 1991 but were suspended when the Israelis and the Palestinians negotiated a secret deal in Oslo in 1993 to begin a new process of dialogue,” it said.
The Sunday Times said Mbeki had pledged “constructive intervention” when he met with Arafat.
It quoted South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad as saying: “His (Arafat’s) assessment was that the situation is extremely dangerous and it was a matter of time before it went beyond the border”.
Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center also confirmed that moves were under way to have Mbeki play a major role, adding that this was being urged by American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
Jackson, who is in Durban, was unavailable for comment on Sunday.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma told a press briefing in Durban on Sunday that Israel had sent a message to Mbeki as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) around the time that Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat attended a NAM ministerial meeting in South Africa in May.
“That was a very direct initiative which the chair had to lead,” Zuma said.
“Israel sent a message, ‘please can you take an initiative?’.”
Israel’s message was supported by the United States, which said it believed South Africa could play a role, Zuma said. – AFP