Observer status for Israel ‘shocking’

SOUTH Africa has reacted strongly to the AU decision to grant observer status to Israel, calling the decision appalling and unjust. The AU Commission took the decision unilaterally, without consultations with its members.

“The decision to grant Israel Observer Status is even more shocking in a year in which the oppressed people of Palestine were hounded by destructive bombardments and continued illegal settlements on their land,” the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said on Tuesday.

The granting of observer status to Israel was considered inexplicable, given that the AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemned Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in May. Once fighting broke out, Faki condemned the “violent attacks in the al-Aqsa mosque committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinian worshipers”, and declared that “the Israeli army’s actions, including the continued forced, and illegal evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, are in stark violation of international law and further heighten tensions in the region, complicating the search for a just and lasting solution”.

The AU had also strenuously objected to the deaths of Palestinians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The view of the South African government is that “the unjust actions committed by Israel offend the letter and spirit of the Charter of the AU”.

The AU embodies the aspirations of all Africans and reflects their confidence that it can lead the continent through the practical expression of the goals of the Charter, especially on issues relating to self-determination and decolonisation.

“Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestine in complete defiance of its international obligations and relevant UN resolutions. It is therefore incomprehensible that the AU Commission chooses to reward Israel at a time when its oppression of Palestinians has been demonstrably more brutal,” Dirco said.

The government says it will ask the commission chairperson to provide a briefing to all member states of the AU on the decision. It hopes it will be discussed by the Executive Council and the Assembly of Heads of States and government.

South Africa’s position is that as long as Israel is not willing to negotiate a peace plan without preconditions, it should not have AU observer status in the AU. “The AU cannot be a party in any way to plans and actions that would see the ideal of Palestinian statehood reduced into balkanised entities devoid of true sovereignty, without territorial contiguity and with no economic viability,” the South African government said.