Written by: South African Zionist Federation
Article source: sazionfed.co.za
The South African Zionist Federation notes the South African Government’s unenthusiastic response to the normalisation deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Improved diplomatic and economic relations between Arab nations and Israel is an objective benefit for the region and could lead to improved stability, prosperity, and peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians. This epochal agreement has been positively received by many important players in the region, including Egypt, Oman, and Bahrain, as well as the United States, the European Union, Germany, and France. South Africa’s largest BRICS partners, namely India and China, have also welcomed the deal.
It is unfortunate that South Africa singularly and dogmatically bases her relationship with Israel upon Israel’s relations with the Palestinians. South Africa’s friend and partner, India, by contrast, has shown a remarkable ability to leverage its relations between Israel and the Palestinians away from issues of conflict and disagreement towards mutual support and good relations with both sides. Indeed South Africa has followed exactly this approach on other Middle East instances, for example, by encouraging mediation and negotiation in the matter of the gulf blockade of Qatar.
This smart bilateral approach that South Africa should follow is surely the only way for our country to bring the Israeli and Palestinian sides together and find peaceful means to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We encourage the South African government to show leadership through positive re-engagement with Israel in ways that would by no means diminish her support for the Palestinians.
Further normalisation deals are likely to emerge over the coming months between Israel and other Arab and Muslim states. South Africa should be ready to welcome and encourage these positive developments in the interests of peace and stability in the region.
Click here to KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE weekly newsletter.
Date published: 20/08/2020
Feature image: pixabay.com
DISCLAIMER
JOY! News is a Christian news portal that shares pre-published articles by writers around the world. Each article is sourced and linked to the origin, and each article is credited with the author’s name. Although we do publish many articles that have been written in-house by JOY! journalists, we do not exclusively create our own content. Any views or opinions presented on this website are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.
