African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela told Jewish officials here last week that the 1975 U.N. General Assembly resolution branding Zionism as racism “has done much harm” and is obsolete, “especially now that there is a dialogue between Israel and the Arab states.”
But he said he could not support the current effort to repeal the resolution until he discussed it with the his ANC colleagues.
The 40-minute meeting with six Jewish representatives took place in the anti-apartheid leader’s hotel suite here last Thursday night, at the end of a long day in which he also met with President Bush.
Mandela requested the meeting, the first with American Jewish leaders since he met with a group of them in Geneva on June 10, 1990, on the eve of his first visit to the United States.
The ANC president said he wanted the meeting to express his support for the Middle East peace process, which has been an inspiration for South African blacks in their negotiations with the Pretoria government.
“The peace talks have brought us a lot of joy, especially because of the sharpness of the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians,” Mandela said.
“When we head that, after all, even Palestinians and Israelis had decided to talk, that brought great encouragement to our people.”
Asked about his attitude toward Zionism, Mandela replied, “If Zionism means the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland within secure borders, having a piece of this Earth which every Jewish person can regard as his country, I support that — for every human being.”
But repeating a formula he has often recited, he added, “If Zionism means the right of the Jewish people to keep conquered territories, we don’t accept that.”
‘TIME WE HAD A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP’
Warren Eisenberg, director of the international council of B’nai B’rith, said Mandela spoke warmly of the involvement of South African Jews in the ANC, including lawyers who represented him and other black leaders in South African trials. He also mentioned the Jewish doctors who visited him during 27 years in prison.
South African Jewish business leaders are now providing assistance to blacks returning from exile, Mandela said. “The Jewish community is playing a vital role in helping us to solve our problems,” he was quoted as saying.
Mandela also said he was aware of the contribution of American Jews to the civil rights movement in the United States, said Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee’s director of government and international relations.
“It’s time we had a closer relationship than we’ve had all along,” Mandela said.
In addition to Eisenberg and Isaacson, those present included. Stuart Eizenstat, honorary vice president of the AJCommittee; Dan Mariaschin, B’nai B’rith International’s director of international and public affairs; Diana Aviv, associate executive vice chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council; and Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
