SA team probe Mid-East divisions

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By Wyre Davies BBC News, Jerusalem

Israeli settlers make their feelings known to the South African group

A group of eminent South Africans is returning home after a working visit to Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

The group is made of influential people - judges, clerics, politicians and journalists - who played various roles in South Africa's transformation into a democratic state after years of apartheid.

The purpose of their visit was to listen and to see if there was any way in which their own experiences could help in this troubled region.

Deliberately shying away from formal, organised political contact, the South Africans wanted to meet Israelis and Palestinians who had been most affected by this complex conflict - the victims of violence.

Lack of contact between Israelis and Palestinians surprised the delegation

Listening to Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose young daughter was killed in a suicide bombing, and Ali Abu Awad, a Palestinian whose brother was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, the group were visibly stirred by their moving and powerful stories.

These were two men who had never really met or given a second thought to someone "from the other side".

Now, however, they regarded each other as "brothers" and worked through a group called the "Parents' Circle" to bring both sides together.

Divisions

Sadly, as the delegation discovered on the next leg of their brief journey, such contact and efforts at co-operation are the exception rather than the norm.

They haven't even decided if they want a marriage or divorce Dennis DaviesSouth African High Court judge

Hebron, a half-hour drive south of Jerusalem through the imposing West Bank barrier, is frequently the scene of clashes between Israeli security forces and local Palestinians.

The Palestinian residents are denied access to parts of their own town because of Jewish settlements, illegal under international law, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs - one of Judaism's most sacred sites.

The South African delegation soon witnessed some of those divisions when their tour of the old city was interrupted by settlers. Three Israeli human rights workers, who were guiding the group, were arrested.

Religious tension was not, of course, a big factor in South Africa's transformation and many of the group were visibly shocked by what they saw in Hebron.

'Co-operation needed'

Like many others, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, an MP from South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) party, was surprised by the absence of any constructive contact between the two communities.

"There has to be a solution," Mrs Madlala-Routledge said. "This situation isn't sustainable."

"We're very much aware of Israel's genuine security concerns and the human rights abuses being suffered by Palestinians, but unless there is co-operation between the communities, there won't be progress."

The tension between the communities in Hebron was obvious

As we waited for the bus to take us back to Jerusalem, Dennis Davies became embroiled in a debate with an elderly settler.

Back home, Mr Davies is a High Court judge. The reconciliation that happened in South Africa, he said, came at the end of a long process - a process which Israelis and Palestinians seem barely to have begun.

"They haven't even decided if they want a marriage or divorce," he exclaimed, betraying his legal background.

"At least we in South Africa knew all along that the only thing on the cards was a marriage. If Israelis and Palestinians are serious about a two-state solution, it has to be an amicable divorce because they are going to end up living side by side."

Attempting to transplant the experiences of one country onto another is never easy - whether it is South Africa, Northern Ireland or the Middle East.

But these South Africans have made progress in their own country after what were profoundly deep divisions.

It is an experience from which Israelis and Palestinians might benefit.