Every country in the world is essentially a geopolitical entity. Botswana is a land mass of 581,730 square kilometres and countries that have diplomatic relations with it, recognise it within that area. South Africa, which has full diplomatic relations with Israel, recognises the latter only within the borders demarcated by the UN in 1948. Since its formation, Israel has been confiscating Palestinian land.
To the specific question of whether Botswana recognises Israel outside UN borders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation chose to provide a non-specific answer. Sunday Standard had also sought to know what the Botswana government thinks of Israel building Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. The full response from Clifford Maribe, the ministry’s spokesman, reads as follows:
“Botswana lends full support to the continued efforts of the international community towards the achievement of a two-state solution, in terms of which Israel and Palestine live side by side as sovereign states. Botswana holds the view that a fair and durable solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict lies in addressing the dynamics of the situation, squarely and comprehensively, without unfairly apportioning blame to either party on the basis of isolated incidents. While acknowledging that settlement development by Israel on Palestine occupied territory is antithetical to the peaceful resolution of this conflict, Botswana is mindful of the fact that, over the years, there have been violations of successive UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions by both parties. Both Israel and Palestine have equal responsibility to respect UN resolutions.”
While Botswana has brought its rooftop diplomacy to bear on countries like Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Sudan, Syria and North Korea, it typically loses its voice when it comes to Israel even when there is need to shout from the rooftops. The future Palestinian state will require land to be established on but for decades, Israel has been building Jewish settlements on land owned by Palestinians. Some Middle East analysts like Dr. Reza Aslan have openly stated the two-state solution that Botswana believes is possible is a pie in the sky and that the peace process is just a charade.
“This notion of we need to figure out a way to revive the peace process ÔÇô don’t believe it. The peace process is nothing but a waste of time so that the rest of the land can be gobbled up. When Oslo was signed there were about 100 000 settlers living in Palestine. That’s when the peace process started in Oslo and 20 years of the peace process has led to 500 000 Jews living on Palestinian land. It’s over, the two-state solution is over. There is no Palestine; there won’t be a Palestine,” Aslan said in 2013, referring by Oslo to the peace process that started in 1993 with secret talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation which began in the Norwegian capital city of Oslo.
While President Ian Khama’s government has been silent on Israel’s handling of the Palestinian issue, his father’s wasn’t. Botswana and Israel established diplomatic ties on May 24, 1967 when non-residential ambassador, Ben-Zion Tehan, presented his letters of credence to President Seretse Khama at the Office of the President in Gaborone. Six years later, as the conflict between Israel and Arab nations intensified, the Minister of State, Bakwena Kgari, returned from the United Nations General Assembly to announce that Botswana would soon take a position on the matter.
It did, cutting diplomatic ties with Israel and in his state-of-the-nation address, Khama explained that Botswana was unhappy with Israel’s refusal to implement a 1967 UN resolution (Resolution 242) that required it to withdraw its army from territories it had occupied following a recent armed conflict with neighbouring Arab states. Khama said Botswana could only work with Israel if it abided by UN resolutions. Two months later, Kgari; Gaborone mayor, Willie Seboni; and the Acting Secretary of External Affairs, Mbiganyi Tibone, welcomed a six-man goodwill mission from the Confederal National Assembly of the Union of Arab Republics.
Led by Abdullah Al-Housh of Libya, the Arab leaders had come to Botswana, as the Botswana Daily News reported, “to convey to the government and people of Botswana their gratitude about Botswana’s support for the Arab cause and in particular, her decision to cut diplomatic ties with Israel.” In return, Botswana was get oil from the Arab nations and was assured that it wouldn’t be affected by the oil embargo that had been imposed on apartheid South Africa. Although Israel never abided by Resolution 242, Seretse Khama’s successor, Ketumile Masire would restore diplomatic ties with Israel.
A team of Israelis are said to have quarterbacked the Botswana Democratic Party’s 2014 election strategy. This relationship goes back to 1965 when Israel sponsored the pre-independence Bechuanaland Democratic Party. At a time that other parties could not even afford a vehicle to transverse unforgiving terrain, Israeli generosity included dropping BDP leaflets on villages from a low-flying helicopter.
When Botswana cut diplomatic ties with Israel, Boteti’s first MP and the BDP’s first treasurer, Benjamin Steinberg, resigned his parliamentary seat in protest. As BDP’s founding treasurer and a Jew, Steinberg would have played no small role in securing the party donations from Israel.
On the other hand, the Botswana National Front has been assertive with Israel and last year, aligned itself with the BDS movement, a global movement for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel “until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.” Last year, its spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa, was part of the high table when the newly formed BDS Botswana chapter announced the start of its campaign against Israeli products that are sold at Woolworths stores in Botswana. Some of the high-grade fresh produce that Woolworths sells is from Israel, having been grown on land that was confiscated from Palestinians by the Israeli government and parcelled out among Jewish citizens.
Botswana has maintained its silence on Israel even when it was revealed, two years ago when the country’s rooftop diplomacy was in full swing, that for years, the Israeli government had been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth control injections with neither their knowledge nor consent. This was part of effort to maintain some level of racial purity. Israel’s new justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, has publicly lobbied against African migration to Israel, arguing that it poses a threat to the Jewish state.
