With something less than enthusiasm, Nelson Mandela has accepted in principle an invitation to visit Israel, extended last week by Jerusalem’s new ambassador to South Africa, Alon Liel.
“Where were you till now?” the African National Congress leader sarcastically asked Liel in response to the invitation.
He pointed out that Israel and Taiwan were the only two countries that had not seen fit to invite him since he was freed from prison in February 1990.
While Mandela said he would like to visit the Jewish state, he said he had many prior commitments before he could consider making the trip.
Liel’s overture to Mandela came even before the Israeli envoy presented his credentials to President F.W. de Klerk in Pretoria on Dec. 9.
Liel told the South African leader that the new Israeli government’s policy and firm intention is to foster ties with the ANC, and de Klerk replied by encouraging Israel to proceed in that direction. “The ANC is the government’s major partner today in the peace talks,” Liel quoted de Klerk as saying.
The ambassador also reported that de Klerk had sought to reassure the local Jewish community in these turbulent times. “South Africa during the transition period, and South Africa in the future, will ensure the welfare and the religious freedom of its Jewish community,” the president was quoted as saying.
Liel was scheduled to meet this week with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, two other key leaders of the ANC.
Over the weekend, Liel demonstratively boycotted the “Miss World” contest held in the black “homeland” of Bophuthatswana, even though Miss Israel, Ravit Assaf, participated. Black South Africans and much of the world deny the legitimacy of the homeland states set up by South Africa, which include Ciskei, Transkei, Venda and Bophuthatswana.
In his formal speech at the presentation of his credentials last week, Lie] said, “All of you here in South Africa, and all of us in the Middle East, can make the difference. We can prove to the whole world that we really have a better and safer `new world order.’ We can prove that wars between nations can become obsolete.”
To de Klerk, he added: “If this beginning will culminate in a democratic, peaceful and successful South Africa, your role will fill many pages in history books all over the world.”
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