Daily Alert Archives

Israel and the Lessons of Mandela

(Jerusalem Post) Warren Goldstein- The South African experience taught the seemingly self-evident idea that you cannot make peace on your own, no matter how much you want to. The ANC and Nelson Mandela are universally acclaimed for their sincere, accommodating and committed peacemaking efforts in bringing an end to apartheid and the country's racial conflict. Yet their example serves to illustrate that to make peace, you need to have an equally committed peace partner on the other side of the negotiating table. President F.W. de Klerk came forward to be Mandela's partner for peace. De Klerk possessed the will and the mandate to pursue peace and reconciliation, and we are now celebrating the 20th anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa. Israel, meanwhile, waits. A succession of unprecedented, all-encompassing offers to establish a Palestinian state were put forward by prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert but were flatly rejected by the Palestinian leadership. When the Camp David peace talks (2000) collapsed due to the intransigence of Yasser Arafat, President Bill Clinton had the integrity to acknowledge the truth behind what had happened. He did not blame Israel for the Palestinian rejection of the most generous Israeli offer in history. Clinton didn't punish or sanction Israel for not making peace alone, and he did not pressure Israel into making dangerous, unreciprocated concessions. The writer is chief rabbi of South Africa.
2014-02-21 00:00:00
Full Article