Abbas calls on world for assistance with Israel

ANT KATZ

President Mahmoud Abbas speaks with one tongue and does not say one thing to one group and another thing to another, said Tamer Al Massri, media and cultural officer for the Palestinian Embassy to Jewish Report on Tuesday.

In an open and frank interview, Al Massri said that “President Abbas met with the South African Jewish community representatives as we feel they can play a role” in attaining a two-state peace settlement.

Abbas, says Al Massri, “also held a meeting with representatives of the Palestinian Solidarity community in SA, including BDS”.

While he could not say what was discussed behind closed doors, first by the two presidents and later with their respective foreign ministers present – he had no doubt that those discussions had been cordial.

He says Abbas’ message to everyone had been the same: “We want everybody, especially the SA Government, to boycott illegal settlements. For now,” said Al Massri, “we are concentrating on asking everybody in the world to boycott the settlements which will help to end the settlements in the Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967, or there is no way to achieve a two-state solution.

“Regarding Israel,” said Al Massri, “we cannot say to the people do this or to not do that. Officially we can’t tell them to boycott Israel, and we also can’t say to the civil activists don’t boycott Israel,” he explained.

He says they spoke frankly about their full support of solidarity groups’ activities “regarding illegal settlements” but at the same time, he added, they did not have a mandate or access to officially direct BDS or several other organisations to stop doing anything. “What we said to the Board and BDS that we ask everyone to reject settlements as they are illegal.”

He said Abbas had expressed hope that the SA Jewish community would apply their influence on the Israeli Government as peace in the Middle East would create more stability of the whole world.

“The Israeli government speaks of a two-state solution,” said Al Massri, bu “they are destroying the chances to build a peace” by establishing ever-more settlements.

He said he was not aware of any awards that President Abbas bestowed, but said that everyone he met was given a small gift. “We thanked the community in general,” he told Jewish Report, “we believe in the NGOs and their role in achieving justice and freedom.”

The Jewish community, he says, “were welcomed by the (SA) Government, and we also rely on them to support stability and peace in the Middle East.” Al Massri said that the Palestinian community “want good relations with the Jewish community in South Africa, and we want their help to achieve self-determination”.

He says the Palestinian position with regard to SA Jewry is clear: they want to engage and be friends. “We are not here to open a conflict between the different communities.”