Two Bits – 15 August 2014

I have tried to follow the current Israel-Gaza conflict with a view to understanding it and having an informed view on the matter.
I have read articles that are pro-Israel, anti-Israel, pro-Arab, anti-Arab, pro-Hamas, anti-Hamas, pro-Palestinian, anti-Palestinian . . . and at the end of it all, I admit to complete confusion about who is right and who is wrong.
People want quick and simple labels. They want to say, well, Apartheid was bad and what Israel is doing seems to be applying Apartheid, so Israel must be bad. But nothing I have read proves Israel operates a system anything like Apartheid.
Then there are people who say, the Palestinians (Hamas) fire rockets and kill Israelis and dig tunnels under the fences and therefore Palestinians must be bad (or right, therefore good). I don’t remember there being fences between communities even in the darkest days of Apartheid but yes, violence begets violence.
I zoned in on an article written by a former boss of mine, Benjamin Pogrund, who was deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail and an arch-critic of Apartheid, who now lives in Israel. Pogrund acknowledges that Israel had moved to the right, but he does not believe that Arabs in Israel endure conditions anything like Apartheid. He wondered what those who applied the label so glibly actually know of apartheid. The article sparked a raging debate, with more than 300 comments for and against, but notably particular vilification reserved for Israel. It would appear that there is no one set of causes for the war, but a whole battery of them. Arab, Israeli, Christian, Jew, Muslim . . . all against one and one against all. It’s a real mess and it’s going to take a army of peacekeepers and negotiators a millennium to sort out, if ever. And there is good reason to believe that a peaceful solution is not the solution many want.
But, coming back to earth, what has this got to do with this little corner of the North Coast, here in the waving canefields of KwaZulu-Natal?
I ask, because our municipal council decided to spend R80 000 in support of a pro-Palestinian solidarity march. The only voice in Council against the vote was from the ACDP. I have to agree with the ACDP on this one. I have nothing whatsoever against the ANC or any other party having and expressing their view on this matter. But it is wrong for local government to firstly, take sides in a war fuelled by fanatical religious and political beliefs and, secondly, to spend public money supporting (or opposing) that view.
We pay municipal rates to Council to supply infrastructure and services like roads, electricity, water and so forth. R80 000 should be spent supplying lighting or water to areas without those services. R80 000 could be spent supporting an orphanage or a school feeding scheme, for that matter. It is wrong to fritter it away on venting hot air on a political cause, no matter how deeply supported, that is 6 000 km from our needy doorstep.
Well done to Reverend Nel Sewraj of the ACDP for being the lone voice in standing up against the majority in Council.
Where was the DA on this? I don’t expect the party to choose sides in a war halfway across the world, but I do expect them to have a view on the spending of our rates.

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Congratulations, too, to ANC heavyweight Pallo Jordan for resigning following the revelation that he lied about having a doctorate. Jordan has resigned from parliament, the ANC national executive and the party, in apparent shame at having been unmasked.
That he was a major intellectual force and a voice of reason in the party is unquestioned.
It is refreshing that he has behaved with honour, unlike most every other South African politician caught with their trousers down, brushing off exposure as irrelevant.
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You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.