Palestinian envoy warns Tanzania on Israel

Dar es Salaam. Palestine and Israel have been at loggerheads for many years now, ever since the Israel nation was established after the Second World War. Apparently, this tension has for many decades left many nations across the globe in a diplomatic crossroads.

But also, many key diplomatic partners like Tanzania have been supporting Palestine in fighting for its independence. As a result, Tanzania severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 following the Yom Kippur war.

Relations were restored in 1995, albeit through Nairobi in Kenya.

Yet again, Tanzania seemed to have touched a raw nerve when Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation minister Augustine Mahiga officiated the opening of the Tanzanian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 8 this year, appealing to Israel to do the same in Tanzania.

That did not augur well with the Palestinians. Now, the new ambassador of the State of Palestine to Tanzania, Hamdi Mansour Abuali, has spoken out on the matter, warning Dar es Salaam to tread carefully on its diplomatic ties with Israel:

Palestine and Tanzania have had diplomatic relations for so long, but now Tanzania has re-established ties with Israel, your foe. What is your take on this?

Relations between Palestine and Tanzania are what we care about. Our partnership is not new; it’s old. What is new is the relationship between Tanzania and Israel. All we hope for is that this is for the good of Tanzanians. Unfortunately, we’ve learned from experience that Israel does not respect agreements in a relationship.

The Israelis have had a lot of agreements with us, on so many issues. But they (the agreements) have not been for the benefit of both parties. Israel always falls short when it comes to implementing agreements.

Can you elaborate on some of the agreements that Israel backtracked on?

In negotiating with Israel we tried to bring in the Americans, Russians and the United Nations to help with the process, because we believe that the struggle for our independence can be executed in a moderate way.

But what we have had to experience is totally different. We agreed with Israel in the 1960s, for example, that Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine. After sometime, Israel changed. And they don’t want the UN-recognised borders.

Despite agreeing with Israel on restrictions of the movement of Palestinians, some areas are still confined by fences and a gate in the whole city. You need permission to go to school; and there are schools separated by the wall where students cannot access unless they climb the fence or ask for permission.

Israel cannot allow people to dig a well or build a factory or to expand. The majority of the Palestinian land in the West Bank has fallen into the hands of Israelites, and surrounded by soldiers -- you can’t walk freely.

Coming back to the Tanzania-Palestine relations, is there an initiative to convince your people to invest in this country? Or any plan to have Tanzanian investors in Palestine?

As you know, Israel has taken away land from Palestinians, such that our people can’t produce.

So, Palestinians are expanding by looking for areas where we can cooperate economically. Already, we have Palestinian investors in Tanzania. But we don’t have any investment agreement here yet.

Nevertheless, we have many investors on the ground in the areas of agribusiness, and we are looking to expanding to large scale.

What initiatives are in place for tourism, considering that both Tanzania and your country have a lot of tourist attractions?

Our Tourism minister visited Zanzibar and signed an agreement with the government to facilitate the flow of Palestinians to Tanzania. At the same time, we have agreements on how Tanzanians can visit Palestine. This agreement works for both sides.

We have been discussing and the agreement has been signed. In the near future we will start to see implementation.

That is Zanzibar, what about tourism in the Mainland?

I take this opportunity to welcome Tanzanians to visit Palestine, and especially the Holy Land and Jerusalem. I encourage Christians and non-Christians to come too. You can visit all historical sites from Palestine.