Granting ‘Israel’ observer status at AU is a double mistake, says Algeria FM

Addis Ababa (QNN)- The Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra denounced the African Union (AU) decision to grant Israel observer status as a “double mistake.”

“We were not the ones who initiated the granting of observer status to anyone,” Lamamra said in an interview with Radio France Internationale and France 24 conducted in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

Lamamra travelled to Addis Ababa to participate in the 35th two-day AU summit, which opened on Saturday.

“There is a double mistake with this case,” he stressed.

“The first mistake was to grant observer status [to Israel] without conducting consultations with the AU member states, including Algeria,” Lamamra asserted, adding that the decision “was bad and should not have been taken.”

He said: “If prior consultations had taken place, the decision would not have been taken, without a doubt.”

The second mistake, according to Lamamra: “Was that there was a division among the member states on this issue, and this was left without any attempt to correct it. This is bad for the organisation and may jeopardise the solidarity that must exist among the member states.”

On Sunday, The African Union (AU) suspended the debate on whether to withdraw Israel’s accreditation, avoiding a vote that risked creating an unprecedented rift in the 54 member bloc, a diplomat told AFP on Sunday.

“The Israel question has been suspended for now and instead there will be a committee set up to study the issue,” one of the diplomats said to an AFP reporter.

On Saturday, the Palestinian PM Muhammad Shtayyeh called on the African Union to withdraw Israel’s observer status, stressing that accepting it as an observer in the AU will be an unmerited reward for its violations and for the apartheid regime it imposes on the Palestinian people.

Addressing the African Union summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Shtayyeh said, “Our faith lies in your alignment with the principles of truth, freedom, peace, and justice. We are confident in your willingness to support the Palestinian people under Israel’s prolonged occupation. Israel should never be rewarded for its violations and for the apartheid regime it imposes on the Palestinian people. As an entity, Israel has progressed from a victim complex to paranoia, extremism, militarism and colonial expansion. This must stop.”

“Based on your stated historical positions and your support for the Palestinian right, and per relevant decisions of the UN and previous African Union Assemblies, we call for the withdrawal and objection of Israel’s observer status at the African Union,” he added.

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Friday also urged member states attending the African Union Summit to reject granting observer status to Israel, saying ‘Israel’ “has practised, and is still practising, state terrorism, and systematically commits all kinds of crimes against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites.”

In its statement, Hamas also noted that ‘Israel’ “adopts a policy of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination,” affirming that many international rights groups have proven this. A recent example was the Amnesty International report, which described Israel as “an apartheid system”.

Hamas noted that granting ‘Israel’ official observer status at the AU is a: “Flagrant violation of the African Charter on Human Rights and the principles and values of the AU and its statute, which provides for the rejection and combating of racism, decolonisation and the right to self-determination of peoples.”

On 22 July 2021, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, decided to unilaterally accredit ‘Israel’ to the African Union, which has created an unprecedented strong response and objection from AU member states at all political levels. So far, the AU has accredited more than 170 non-African states and organisations.

In October 2021, the executive council of the African Union delayed its decision on accepting or revoking granting the occupation state of Israel observer status, until the next summit in February.

Following a vigorous debate between the members, the council decided to delay the decision.

At least 25 African Union member states now oppose the African Union’s grant of observer status to ‘Israel’.

The African Union is a representative body of 54 African nations whose majority object to Israel’s illegal occupation, unjust oppression of Palestinians and annexation of their land.

The occupation state had submitted a letter of credence to rejoin the AU as an observer — which was accepted — 19 years after the occupation state lost its status.