A Political Conversation

Team SA (Sonti, Albert and I) met in Ramallah with the Ambassador to South Africa , Dr Pikane in Israel-Palestine. He met us in his office with two of his Directors. This meeting, though thought provoking and informative soon became informal and conversational. We had an in-depth discussion about the occupied territories in the West Bank, The Settler invasion and the Deportation Order 1649 and its social, economic and political impact on the people. We openly shared our opinions and the message from him was clear: “We as South Africans should encourage a position of reconcilliation in Israel-Palestine.”
The discussions changed to the South African holiday, Freedom Day (27th April) and how it was celebrated in Ramallah. They mentioned that a few delegations visited the embassy and they celebrated in true South African style with a dinner party. The embassy is preparing for World Cup 2010 in Ramallah. Plans are underway to set up festivals where Palestinians can watch certain matches on big screens. This means that even though the Palestinian people will not have a team in action South Africa will bring the match to them. I hope that the conflict in the Middle East will settle in such a manner that soon young people will have an opportunity to display their talent to the world instead of them being disadvantaged by political indecision.