Israel: Beware the Rorschach effect – OPINION

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Incidentally, based on its existing constitutional provisions, ethno-religious identity would be the foundation of a Palestinian state: it would be explicitly ‘Arab’, with Islam as its official religion and Sharia law as its basis.

Much has also been said about the situation in the occupied territories – a situation that occurs within Israel proper. There is much to criticize. It is a militarized position that restricts freedom, is deeply discriminatory towards the Palestinian population and inevitably perpetuates hardships and abuses. There is no real dispute about this. But, to quote Benjamin Pogrund, a South African journalist now living in Israel (and constantly critical of its actions): ‘It is an occupation, it is repression, but it is not apartheid.’

More importantly, South Africa have nothing good to do to break this impasse. There are some applicable lessons in our transition. The struggle of rival nationalisms over boundaries and the character of states is beyond our experience. South Africa did not have to contend with territorial claims. Rather, the focus was on the conditions of a common citizenship. South Africa had an extensive Christian religious tradition as a growing power; In Israel and Palestine, religion is a source of deep division. (I recently suggested to a prominent local supporter of Israel that South Africa could draw on its experiences in this conflict. This is a mistake on both sides.)

Nor does the government of South Africa have anything to inspire or compel the parties. No support package, no security guarantee. And it has no capacity for persuasion, as it transparently hates Israel and sides with the Palestinians without any qualms.

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And according to all available evidence, it’s not of much interest to most South Africans anyway. A 2017 survey by the Kaplan Center at the University of Cape Town found that nearly three quarters of respondents (Africans living in urban centres) had never heard of the conflict. More than a third of them could not tell which party was responsible for it.

So, what exactly does IAW mean? At best, it is about increasing ‘cohesion’. Most of the people involved are undoubtedly sincere in this. But it’s a minor, demonstrative gesture that doesn’t value anything. Above all, it is not about ‘peace’, even though that word is sometimes confused with it.

It is about demonstrating support for the Palestinian ‘victory’ – ‘from the river to the sea’. It’s not realistic, but never mind. It scratches something in the political psyche of South Africa. It pays less attention to history than to mythology. These kinds of gestures are indicative of what their celebrants imagine the country to be, or could be – especially for those in the country’s political elite affiliated with the ANC.

‘Taking a stand’ provides the satisfaction of a clear morally and ideologically ‘progressive’ position on an issue of global importance. Of constant struggle. It is more the stuff of a liberation movement than a government. None of the complexity and frustration of running an electric utility, or living off the roads.

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Thus, back in 2017, Sisa Njikelana, an ANC international relations officer, said at a seminar that to counter Israel’s destructive influence in Africa, South Africa should offer the same technology and expertise to its partners. For a country in the throes of failure that was (and is) squandering its potential, there was glaring unreality and arrogance on display.

It also perpetuates a fantasy about South Africa’s geopolitical weight, that it is in fact what former ambassador to Washington Ibrahim Rasool called a ‘moral superpower’. When Parliament passed its motion on the downgrade of the embassy, ​​the National Freedom Party referred to ‘our ability to act as a neutral mediator in the conflict’. If anyone thinks so, it is beyond delusion, rather like South Africa’s mediation between Russia and Ukraine.

It is a clear example of the disconnect from reality that pervades our politics, a narrow and self-referential worldview with aspirations beyond capability and ideology beyond reality.

Never mind Israel. This week says a lot about the situation in South Africa.

Terrence Corrigan is project manager at the Institute of Race Relations