Palestinians to forge unity in South Africa

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Pretoria - Palestinians from across the political spectrum have converged in the Western Cape for a week-long dialogue to hammer out their differences and forge a common political vision for the future. This is the second intra-Palestinian dialogue to be organised this year in South Africa by In Transition Initiative (ITI), a South African conflict resolution NGO led by Roelf Meyer, Ebrahim Ebrahim, Ivor Jenkins and Mahomed Bhabha, in partnership with the Institute for Palestine in South Africa. “This is a unique attempt to bring Palestinians together to reassess their national programme, strategy, unity, and future,” Dr Nabeel Shaath told Independent Media. Shaath is one of the most senior Palestinian figures in Fatah, having served as foreign minister as well as having held other ministerial portfolios, and been a chief negotiator for the Palestinians with the Israelis. “No other country has invited us to engage in dialogue amongst ourselves, and it is only to South Africa that we would go to do that,” he said. Shaath was in Pretoria on Monday to meet Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and is due to meet ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.

Shaath acknowledges that the outcome of the dialogue may not be immediate, but believes that it will go a long way towards assisting Palestinian parties and factions to reassess their strategy after years of struggle and failed negotiations with the Israelis.

Among the participants are senior leaders from Fatah, Hamas, the Palestine National Initiative, Communist Party, Islamic Movement, Arab Party, Democratic Front, Popular Front, as well as select Palestinian civil society representatives.

The Palestinian forum will be addressed by South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, Head of ANC International Relations Edna Molewa, former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs, former ambassadors such as Mohammed Dangor and Ebrahim Rasool, and the South African special envoys to the Middle East.

This conference comes after a series of ongoing meetings between Fatah and Hamas which have been held in various Middle Eastern capitals such as Doha, Istanbul and Cairo.

The Palestinian dialogue held in South Africa is unique in that it does not exclusively focus on the contentious issues between Fatah and Hamas, but is based on an all-inclusive approach which brings together a plethora of Palestinian political groupings.

The dialogue is reminiscent of the Patriotic Front dialogue in South Africa in 1991, which brought together the liberation movements to chart a common approach towards negotiations for a new democratic South Africa. Ironically it was Ebrahim Ebrahim who had been charged by Nelson Mandela with the responsibility of establishing the Patriotic Front 25 years ago.

Shaath hopes that the first outcome of the dialogue this week will be to re-achieve a measure of Palestinian unity, which is critical at this juncture.

Palestinians are preparing to hold the first democratic elections in 10 years – when municipal elections are held on October 8th. Hamas and Fatah, as the largest Palestinian parties, are both worried about being outvoted, but have agreed to accept the results.

In the last democratic elections in 2006, Hamas had won the poll which had been deemed free and fair by a plethora of international observers, including the South African observer delegation. Shaath believes that whoever wins this time will be empowered to govern, particularly seeing as the EU – which had starved the Hamas administration of funds at the time – has changed its policy approach towards the Palestinians.

Fatah and Hamas are also increasingly recognising that their destiny lies not in undermining each other, but coming together as a united front to make peace with the Israelis.

“I cannot think of a good enough reason why we haven’t already signed a cooperation agreement between Fatah and Hamas – both sides are very close. Unfortunately there are those outside which would like to undermine the attempts at Palestinian unity,” Shaath said.

Once greater unity is achieved among Palestinian political groupings, there needs to be comprehensive and sustained dialogue between Palestinian party representatives to resolve the three fundamental issues which divide them. According to Shaath, these are: the payment of Palestinian civil servants, national elections, and a common political programme.

Independent Foreign Service