Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad on Thursday stopped short of calling for sanctions against Israel, but said the United Nations should look at ways to intervene more decisively in the Middle East crisis.
”We are very concerned about developments in the Middle East. The attempt to find a military solution is absolutely not realistic,” he said.
Asked whether sanctions were the answer, Pahad said: ”We have constantly looked at what we can do to put pressure. We will work through the OAU, the Non Aligned Movement and the United Nations to see how we can put pressure to get a negotiated solution.
”Sanctions are one of the options, but we haven’t come to the decision to impose sanctions yet.”
Since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had come into power, the Israelis had established 30 new settlements and were now raising a security fence.
”All this is a disastrous position. If you want genuine security, they must move to an unconditional negotiation based on the Mitchell plan and the Arab summit plan.”
Pahad said the continued Israeli aggression and occupation of Palestinian territory was a recipe for disaster.
However, the South African government also condemned the latest suicide bombings.
”We don’t believe suicide bombings against civilians can achieve the objectives, and does not reflect the interest of the Palestinian cause, but the actions taken by the Israeli Defence Force creates conditions for more suicides bombings.”
Pahad said the South African government hoped that those countries that had real influence in the Middle East would act decisively to find a political solution.
”We hope the UN does look at ways in which it can intervene more decisively.”
On Israel’s rejection of UN resolutions, Pahad said: ”There must be some consequences to rejecting a UN resolution. The UN must look at what pressures it can put to ensure the resolutions are not ignored.”
Pahad’s comments follows Wednesday’s suicide attack in Jerusalem, the second in 36 hours, which killed seven people, including a girl aged five and her grandmother, as well as the bomber.
The Israeli Defence Force on Thursday entered the West Bank town of Bethlehem and arrested seven people. – Sapa