US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv is reckless and inflammatory.
It has been met with protest, outrage, and condemnation across the world. His decision almost coincides with the momentous ANC conference this weekend where this issue will be discussed.
Such discussion will take place against the backdrop of the ANC’s historical commitment to solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere but in particular with the Palestinians, who continue to suffer under the yoke of Israeli occupation, dispossession, and brutal denial of their legitimate rights.
After much mealy-mouthed ambivalence and ambiguity, Trump’s decision presents the ANC-led government with a unique opportunity to sever or, at minimum, downgrade diplomatic relations with Israel and thereby set an example for other AU members to follow.
This takes on added significance in the wake of the duplicitous and compromising behaviour of South Africa’s ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, whose pro-Israel leanings have been met with civil society demonstrations at home while his term has been extended in Tel Aviv.
To compound matters under President Zuma, South Africa has lost its standing as a moral beacon of justice and probity in international relations.
His foreign policy has been more transactional, instrumental, and expedient, making Faustian bargains all over the place.
The status of Jerusalem might be the best chance for Zuma to retrieve the calculus of principle in our foreign policy, so carefully forged under his predecessors Mandela and Mbeki.
While the city of Jerusalem is a symbol of nationhood for Palestinians and Israelis, it has also become a crucible of conflict over the past six decades, mainly because of the discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli
state.
There are certain incontrovertible historical facts that might help the South African government to get on the side of truth and justice.
On September 30, 2014, following the commandeering of residences and the influx of another 200 settlers, riots erupted in East Jerusalem, in the Old City and in an area close to the religiously sensitive holy site of Temple Mount which is known to Arabs as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
Jews are given free access of worship at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (“The Wailing Wall”) but only a small proportion of Palestinians are allowed to pray in the Muslim compound.
This is a 35-acre esplanade with Muslim holy sites but contains the spot that is sacred to the Jews.
We recall the incident in September 2000 when Ariel Sharon provoked the anger of Palestinians with an ill-considered visit to the Haram after which 50 Palestinians were shot and killed in protests which marked the onset of the Intifada.
The fact that not a single new Arab neighbourhood has been built in East Jerusalem since the Israeli take-over in 1967 compared with thriving Jewish neighbourhoods is a measure of Israel’s de facto annexation of the eastern part of the city.
While there was a legitimate expectation by Palestinians that East Jerusalem would one day become the capital of an independent Palestinian state, Israel has pressed ahead with its objective of permanent, unified and sovereign control of the city.
The most cynical of actions has been a policy of “de-Arabising” Jerusalem, including systematically reducing the size of the Palestinian population while at the same time pursuing a policy of transforming Jerusalem into an overwhelming Jewish metropolis in demographic, cultural, social, and political terms.
Since 1967, Israel has demolished Palestinian homes and evicted its inhabitants from the Mughrabi Quarter of the Old City to make space for Jewish worshippers in front of the Western Wall.
This has included constructing houses and businesses in the razed area and renaming it as a Jewish Quarter.
Equally pernicious were the city citizenship requirements, which demanded that Palestinians swear allegiance to the State of Israel; demonstrate proficiency in Hebrew; and give up citizenship of any other country.
Israel has further redefined the borders of East Jerusalem northwards and southwards, which resulted in the expropriation and confiscation of Palestinian-owned land to allow for Jewish settlement and the isolation of East Jerusalem from the West Bank.
The most egregious was the construction of the Har Homa settlement which provides housing for 20000 Israelis and which finalised the encirclement of East Jerusalem by Jewish settlements.
Although there are hardly any Palestinians living in Jewish West Jerusalem, there are more than 200000 Israeli settlers who have made their homes in East Jerusalem in 10 major settlements.
Israel has succeeded in a form of demographic engineering in East Jerusalem by providing poor infrastructure, education, and social services whose logic is predicated on ensuring a deteriorating quality of life.
After decades of occupation, most Palestinian neighbourhoods do not have adequate sewerage and sanitation systems, paved roads, schools, or a regular supply of electricity while houses are typically overcrowded and sub-standard.
Israel’s neglect of the school system has meant high levels of primary school illiteracy and a high drop-out rate in secondary schools.
No less than 80% of Palestinians in the area live below the poverty line.
Through land expropriations, restrictive housing and zoning laws, house demolitions and take-overs, Palestinians in East Jerusalem have suffered levels of discrimination such that by 1999, 86% of the city had been removed from Palestinian control.
In terms of these considerations, Trump’s decision is a direct violation of UN Security Council Resolution 478 of 1980, which rejects the “Jerusalem Law” designating the city as the unique and indivisible capital of the State of Israel.
Therefore, if South Africa does not break off or downgrade relations with Israel now, anything less will be an abdication of our collective responsibility to ensure that peace, justice, and security prevail for the Palestinian people.
* Le Pere is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria. He writes in his personal capacity.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.