{"id":8762,"date":"2022-01-18T19:25:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T19:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states"},"modified":"2022-01-18T19:54:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T19:54:24","slug":"israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s return to African Union is creating division among member states"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Israel is preparing to open a new chapter in its long relationship with the continent by obtaining observer status at the AU in February 2022. First granted last July, this accreditation was denounced in September by more than 20 member countries, which were upset that Moussa Faki Mahamat had presented it as a fait accompli.<\/p>\n

The AU Commission\u2019s chairperson had no choice but to reconsider his position. The question will be put to all 55 member states at the next heads of state summit in Addis Ababa in February 2022.<\/p>\n

A formality? This is seen as \u2018a formality\u2019 by several Israeli observers, who believe that they have a majority of support within the pan-African organisation.<\/p>\n

Officially, Israel has not had this many African friends in decades. \u201cYou have to go back to the 1950s, when Israel had more than 30 embassies across the continent,\u201d says researcher Emmanuel Navon.<\/p>\n

At the time, the country was a member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) with observer status, which it is now seeking to recover. It was stripped of this status in 2002, when the continent decided to establish the AU<\/p>\n

Since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the continent has been united on the Israel issue. In the aftermath of the conflict, all African countries officially broke off diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, encouraged by an OAU largely under the influence of the continent\u2019s Arab countries.<\/p>\n

20 years after Israel\u2019s forced departure, the most ardent opponents of its return are still the same.<\/p>\n

There are just fewer of them than in the past, as their numbers diminished when Tel Aviv normalised its relations with the continent in the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords. The Palestinian cause Ailing Libya obviously no longer wields the same influence at the AU as it did during Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

However, Algeria quickly spoke out against the \u201cobviousness\u201d of the commission\u2019s decision and rallied the vast majority of the continent\u2019s Muslim countries, from Mauritania to Djibouti, around it.<\/p>\n

Only Morocco and Sudan, which are in the process of entering into an increased understanding with Israel, and Chad, which re-established diplomatic relations with the latter in 2018 after President Idriss D\u00e9by Itno\u2019s historic visit, are missing.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana staunchly oppose Israel\u2019s return to the AU. These countries have followed in the footsteps of South Africa, which \u2013 since 1994 and the ANC\u2019s arrival in power \u2013 has been championing the Palestinian cause on the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation in Palestine has not changed, so there is no reason for Israel\u2019s status to change,\u201d says the refusal camp, repeating what they had said in 2013 and 2016.<\/p>\n

A heavy procedural battle has thus begun in Addis Ababa and is scheduled to conclude with a simple majority vote, which \u2013 if conducted secretly \u2013 could hold surprises. If not, Israel would end 20 years of its absence and reclaim its place among the 90 external partners now accredited to the AU.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Israel is preparing to open a new chapter in its long relationship with the continent by obtaining observer status at the AU in February 2022. First granted last July, this accreditation was denounced in September by more than 20 member countries, which were upset that Moussa Faki Mahamat had presented it as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,246,314,245],"class_list":["post-8762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-african","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael\u2019s return to African Union is creating division among member states - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Israel is preparing to open a new chapter in its long relationship with the continent by obtaining observer status at th ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel\u2019s return to African Union is creating division among member states\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Israel is preparing to open a new chapter in its long relationship with the continent by obtaining observer status at th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-18T19:25:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-18T19:54:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e71ad5b9762.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Israel\u2019s return to African Union is creating division among member states\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-18T19:25:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-18T19:54:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e71ad5b9762.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"African\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/israels-return-to-african-union-is-creating-division-among-member-states\",\"name\":\"Israel\u2019s return to African Union is creating division among member states - 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