South Africa should take a ”rights-based” position over the current conflict in the Middle East involving Israel and Lebanon, official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
In his regular internet column, SA Today, Leon — who is Jewish and married to an Israeli journalist — said: ”It is both foolish and mischievous to divide the combatants into a Manichaean world of good versus bad, and oppressor against oppressed. The facts are too varied for this kind of neat division.”
The sensible position for South Africa to take is, he said, the most obvious. This is to stand up on the side of peace and avoid taking an unduly partisan position, he said, noting that included in his party are members of the Union of Jewish Women and the Muslim Judicial Council.
Taking a rights-based stance does not mean that South Africa should not speak out against the actions of Hezbollah, ”as it must not be forgotten that the reason for its existence is the destruction of the state of Israel — a position which runs directly counter to South Africa’s own policy of support for a two- state solution”.
”Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese government, yet it continues to rain rockets into northern Israel. This is a bizarre state of affairs, the equivalent, for example, of the South African Communist Party in Limpopo firing rockets into Zimbabwe!”
A rights-based position would include recognition of the sovereign right of self-defence, the avoidance of civilian casualties, and the recognition of the right of people to self-determination.
There is also ”a disturbing tendency” among a number of political actors in South Africa to argue that it must play a leading role in resolving the Middle East conflict and that it must choose sides.
”Not only is South Africa ill-equipped to play such a role, it is also highly unlikely that any of the actors in the region would be likely to accept us playing such a role.”
There also is ”a mistaken belief” that the lessons learned from South Africa’s political transition can be seamlessly transposed to solve the Middle Eastern question. ”This was illustrated by the misguided call made by the South African Council of Churches for there to be a TRC-type [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] process to help end the conflict.
”It is high time that those groups who are prone to calling for South Africa to play a central role in the region realised the inescapable fact that we are not a significant player in the Middle East.”
This fact was ”brought home” by South Africa’s absence this week at the Rome Conference, which brought together 18 nations and international organisations in an attempt to find ways to end the fighting in southern Lebanon, Leon noted. — I-Net Bridge