Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane is currently visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories in order to listen and learn about the conflict first hand and to discuss how South Africa should be playing a more constructive role in bringing the parties together for peace‚ the DA says.
“He is also here‚ as a person of deep faith‚ to visit some of the most important holy places that are of spiritual meaning to him‚” DA spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme said on Thursday evening.
While in Israel Maimane has met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Leader of the Opposition‚ Bougie Herzog. A meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority‚ Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled‚ but was cancelled by his office due to a scheduling conflict in the president's diary‚ she said.
“Mr Maimane also met with Palestinian officials in Ramallah and Rawabi‚ and with Palestinian human rights activists. He has also met with senior representatives of the Palestinian and Israeli business community to discuss how business and trade can be used to advance peace when politics is failing to make progress.
“This is in keeping with the DA's commitment to a two-state solution‚ where Israel and Palestine exist side by side‚ which is the position of the South African Government as well as the United Nations‚” Van Damme stated.
She added that under a DA leadership‚ South Africa would play a constructive role in bringing the two parties together instead of inflaming tensions between them.
“The DA will always place human rights at the centre of its international relations‚ a moral policy long disregarded by the ANC.”
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