Cape Town | Friday
IT IS impossible to insulate South Africa and the rest of the world from the consequences of the deepening crisis in the Middle East, says President Thabo Mbeki.
In his weekly letter posted on the official website of the African National Congress (ANC) on Friday, Mbeki said this situation, ”despite the silence of the United Nations Security Council in this regard”, constituted a serious threat to international peace and security.
”We are greatly disturbed at the killing both of Palestinians and Israelis and the atmosphere of despair that has enveloped this region.
”Most worrying is the sense that the region is trapped in a bloody and destructive tragedy from which it cannot escape,” Mbeki said.
”We cannot accept this death and destruction as it affects both Palestinians and Israelis.
”When we call for respect for life we must state this firmly that we refer both to Israelis and Palestinians.
”When we assert the right of every individual to live in conditions of safety and security, we must do so with respect both to Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.
”When we say that the killing and the destruction must stop, we must make this demand in defence of Israelis and Palestinians.” Fundamental to the resolution of the conflict was the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
”The incontrovertible reality is that the conflict will not end until this objective is achieved.
”No amount of violence directed against the people of Palestine will stop their struggle for the establishment of their own independent homeland,” Mbeki said.
”Clearly, everything must be done immediately to end the violent conflict that is currently claiming the lives of many Palestinians and Israelis, daily.
”Equally clearly, everything must be done immediately to restart the political process to find a negotiated settlement of the fundamental causes of this conflict.
”The peoples of Palestine and Israel are condemned to live together, cheek by jowl. Like ourselves (in South Africa), they have no choice but to succeed or perish together.
”The same circumstances that lead some among them to view the other as the immediate enemy, are precisely the imperatives that dictate that they must strive to live together peacefully in one neighbourhood, sharing the salt to season the food they eat.”
These were some of the realities United States Secretary of State Colin Powell had to confront during his current visit to the region.
”He has no choice but to grapple with all these realities to help produce a new situation of hope rather than despair.”
Powell’s visit should ”enjoy the support of everybody within and outside the Middle East who is interested in the well-being of the Palestinians, Israelis and everybody else in the region”.
”As South Africans the least we should do is to wish the secretary of state God-speed,” Mbeki said.- Sapa