Palestinian urges SA to support peace

Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, has urged South Africans of all creeds to stand together with proponents of peace in the Middle East. Speaking from the Palestinian Embassy in Pretoria today, Erekat, who represented Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority president, at the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki yesterday, said the South African experience still served as an inspiration to Palestinians.

"I was so happy to be sent by my president to attend the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki for his second term. If someone had asked me 15 years ago if the South African conflict would end as it did I would not have been able to dreamt it," Erekat said.

Asked about recent protests in South Africa by Muslim and Jewish groups, and the continuous sparing in the letters pages of local newspapers, Erekat said all Palestinians wanted was peace with Israel and a recognised state next door to it. "My world is not divided between those pro-Israel or Palestine and those against Israel or Palestine. It is divided between pro-peace and anti-peace. Christians, Muslims and Jews must stand with the peacemakers."

Erekat meets Mbeki
Earlier in the afternoon Erekat had met Mbeki for an hour along with Salman el-Herfi, a Palestinian ambassador, and Aziz Pahad, the deputy foreign affairs minister. He had given Mbeki a letter from Arafat explaining the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, where Israel is threatening to kill him. They have had him bottled up in his Ramallah compound for nearly two years.

Erekat said he had also given Mbeki documents and files related to the activities of Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land and the construction of a series of walls and fences. The Israelis have said this separation barrier is vital for fighting terrorism by Israel and an apartheid frontier to permanently take much of the West Bank from Palestinians by others.

Those seeking to discredit the plans of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, which includes retracting a promise not to assassinate Arafat, unilaterally withdrawing from the Gaza strip and building the barrier, have compared the structure with those built around Jewish ghettos during World War II.

The Palestinian envoy added that Arafat had asked Mbeki to do whatever he could to get the peace process back on track. Mbeki had agreed. He also passed along his best wishes to Arafat and the Palestinian leadership. - Sapa