Geoff Sifrin
TAKING ISSUE
In 1993, Rabin signed the Oslo agreement with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who had until then been regarded only as a terrorist leader aiming at Israel’s elimination. It was an interim deal involving a partial Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories and the creation of the Palestinian Authority.
An outcome was formal recognition of Israel by the PLO, and the PLO by Israel as the representative of the Palestinians. Many hoped the accord would lead to lasting peace, but it also engendered vicious opposition from different factions on both sides. Rabin’s murder at a Tel Aviv peace rally by a Jewish religious extremist in November 1995 dealt a major blow to its chances of success.
It’s a good time to reflect on South Africa’s changing attitude towards Israel in the past two decades. South Africa has become one of the most hostile political environments towards Israel in the world. Members of the ruling ANC and its allies, Cosatu and the SACP, openly support BDS and Israel’s enemies, and hatred of Israel sometimes merges into blatant anti-Semitism. This is notwithstanding the fact that the government maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, its official policy still supports the two state solution, and trade between the countries is healthy. Hamas, on the other hand, rejects Israel’s right to exist and is officially listed as a terrorist organisation in many parts of the world.
When Rabin was assassinated, Mandela sent Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to represent South Africa at the funeral in Jerusalem. In addition, Mandela attended the memorial service organised by the Jewish community at the Oxford shul in Johannesburg, accompanied by ANC personalities like Tokyo Sexwale and Walter Sisulu. In his address, he lauded Rabin’s courage and quest for peace.
Mandela also made a point of visiting the Rabin memorial in 2001 during a hush-hush visit to Israel to meet with Israeli President Ezer Weizman, Foreign Minister David Levy and Prime Minister Ehud Barak. SA Jewish leaders Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris, Russell Gaddin and Marlene Bethlehem accompanied him to Yad Vashem and on a walk on the Via Dolorosa.
But Mandela was also intrinsically sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. Five years before Rabin’s murder, he angrily rejected criticism from Jewish leaders after he was photographed embracing Yasser Arafat warmly in Namibia in 1990, soon after his release from prison. Mandela retorted that he had also once been called a terrorist, but said his position enabled him to intervene where the Jewish community could not. It was long before the Oslo agreement, when the Israeli Prime Minister would himself shake Arafat’s hand on the White House lawn in the presence of US President Bill Clinton.
The anniversary of Rabin’s murder comes amidst high tension over control of the Temple Mount site in Jerusalem, terrorist attacks throughout Israel, and a chaotic and violent Middle East generally. Some people are saying the Third Intifada has begun. It is another reminder of the intractable nature of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the hatred that thrives when hopes for finding a solution die and visionaries like Rabin are lacking. An often-quoted statistic says 70 per cent of Israelis support a two-state solution, but 70 per cent also believe it is not possible to get there.
Many people believe Oslo – Rabin’s legacy – is all but dead and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank under Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, cannot survive much longer. What comes afterwards, no-one knows.
South Africa’s attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tends to ebb and flow with the existence of a peace process. When Rabin was alive and the chances for peace looked better, South Africa’s attitude was more positive towards Israel. Now that there is essentially no peace process, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders express little vision for a peaceful future, it gives fuel to Israel’s enemies.
Rabin came closer than any other leader to forging Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. His assassination means we will never know whether peace was an illusion based on wishful thinking, or stood a real chance.
- Geoff Sifrin is former editor of the SAJR. He writes this column in his personal capacity.
Gary
Nov 1, 2015 at 8:24 am
‘The dream only lasts while you sleep. You cannot embrace people whose only goal is to murder you and your children’
Baruch
Nov 6, 2015 at 5:39 pm
‘Mr Sifrin
\n
\nWhilst it may be romantic and nostalgic to believe that Rabin came closer than anyone to achieving a peace agreement, such dreams simply do not match the facts. A slew of articles in both the left and right wing press (granted I only saw one in the left, but it was Haaretz, thats like al jazeera publishing candle lighting times) came out with factual consideration of the realities of Rabin and of Oslo
\n
\n 1) Rabin did not design Oslo. Perez and his buddies negotiated it behind Rabin’s back. And Rabin was then backed into a corner because of election promises
\n
\n 2) Rabin never envisioned anything close to what is being called a \”the only solution\” today. In fact , he envisioned, to quote Caroline Glick, something very similar to what Bayit Hayehud is calling for today. But they only arrived at this because of facts on the ground created by Oslo. Rabin’s vison and his offers fell drastically short of the demands of the Pallies and even of the rejected offers of Barak and Olmert. To suggest that Rabin came closest even though far more generous offers were later rejected is therefor to deny reality.
\n
\n 3) Rabin himself, according to his very leftist daughter, even on the eve of his death, was considering cancelling the Oslo process.
\n
\n 4) South africans should be most acutely aware (other than Israelis who’s blood pay for it)of the futility of the Oslo process because it was to SA that Arafat,may his name be blotted out, flew first after signing the accords and said in a Mosque in JHB, that the process is only a means to destroy the whole of Israel.
\n
\n 5) The one thing you got right was that Israelis have woken up. Whilst there have been polls designed to produce support for a two state solution they do not indicate support for negotiating one with the palestinians under anything resembling the current situation and more certainly do not support taking any risks to towards a settlement – the risk was taken and it was a bad investment.
\n
\n 6) All polls at the time of his death suggested Rabin was going to be defeated in the upcoming election by Netanyahu. This is most telling because given this, and with the benefit of hindsight,it was the left that gained far more from the assissination than it lost. If Rabin had simply gone on to be defeated at the polls, the process would have ended there and then. Oslo would have died. There would be no big what-ifs, or claims that the hope for peace was killed. But the the assassination a dream was created. The one person who had signed an agreement with the enemy was now dead. If the left could not force Oslo through then they could blame the right for killing the only hope. And this do, every year. People have short memories for annoyances like facts and so it was inevitable that with the passing of years people would forget that rabin never designed Oslo and that he was about to lose an election anyway. And so we have yours and many other articles lamenting the loss of the dream.
\n
\nAs an aside this is probably the main reason why the conspiracy theories of Rabin’s assassination are so widely believed. Leaving aside the interesting holes in the time-line, people are most drawn to the fact that the killing galvanized the dying Oslo process and created a legend and rally- call from a politician about to be defeated. A recent poll in Maariv
\n
\n 1 in 3 Israelis – No such thing as the Rabin legacy
\n1 in 3 Israelis – believe conspiracy theories
\n1 in 2 Israelis – Don’t miss Rabin
\n1 in 2 Israelis – Do not identify with Rabin memorial’
Baruch
Nov 10, 2015 at 5:23 pm
‘Any reason my comment was not published? I didn’t see anything inappropriate in it?’