From CODESA to the Sheikhs of Hebron: Why brave dialogue can still save our world
Key topics:
Hebron sheikhs propose peace plan, recognise Israel, seek Abraham Accords
South Africa’s peaceful past used as a model for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue
Interfaith and grassroots efforts show peace is possible despite the conflict
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.
If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.
The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here.
By Kamohelo Chauke*
In an era of seemingly intractable conflict, when entrenched narratives and mutual suspicion define geopolitics, it is easy to dismiss peace as utopian and unrealistic, especially in the middle east. But every so often, an act of courage reminds us that peace is not only possible. It is necessary.
Last week, five influential sheikhs from the Palestinian Authority’s Hebron district sent a remarkable letter to the Israeli government. In it, they proposed establishing Hebron as a separate Arab emirate that recognises Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and seeks to join the Abraham Accords. They argued that the Oslo Accords have failed their people, leaving behind a legacy of “damage, death, economic disaster and destruction.”
This proposal was not drafted by idealists disconnected from reality. It comes from community leaders in one of the most symbolically contested cities in the West Bank - a city that has seen decades of tension between its Jewish and Arab populations. And yet, these leaders chose a path of reconciliation over fighting, pragmatism over perpetual protest.
Such moves may seem unprecedented in the current climate, but to us South Africans, this moment should feel familiar. Our national miracle, the peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy was born out of the same choice to speak across bitter divides.
A Reminder from Our Past
During the early 1990s, when the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) was launched, there was no guarantee that the talks would succeed. There were forces on all sides; militant right-wingers, radical leftist factions, foreign and domestic agitators who sought to derail negotiations. Who can forget the shocking moment when white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche and his men stormed CODESA, attempting to sabotage the transition? Or the bloody internecine conflict between the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and the townships of Gauteng, that threatened to plunge the country into civil war? And yet, we persevered. We persevered because, as Nelson Mandela once said, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” This is the spirit embodied by Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, the leading figure behind the Hebron proposal. He has held more than a dozen meetings with Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, including several at the minister’s home in Jerusalem. He does not deny the trauma and devastation Palestinians have experienced. But he insists that endless war is not the answer. “There will be no Palestinian state - not even in 1,000 years,” Jaabari told The Wall Street Journal, bluntly acknowledging the hardened Israeli public mood after the October 7 Hamas attacks. “But there can be coexistence.” That simple yet radical idea - coexistence - is now on the table. And if South Africa could make peace after centuries of racial division, apartheid laws, massacres, and inequality, then we must affirm the same is possible between Arabs and Jews.
The Power of Interfaith Leadership
This movement is not confined to Hebron. In Jerusalem, President Isaac Herzog recently welcomed a delegation of imams and Muslim leaders from Europe - France, the UK, the Netherlands, and Italy at the Israeli President’s Residence. Organised by ELNET, a European - Israeli network promoting mutual understanding, the visit underscored a growing willingness among Muslim leaders to build bridges with the Jewish state.
Read more:
Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, chairman of the Conference of Imams of France, captured the sentiment perfectly: “We are here to bring a message of love. We pray that the hostages come back… This is a war between two worlds. You represent the world of humanity and democracy.” The fact that such words were spoken in Jerusalem, during an active conflict, shows that dialogue remains alive even in the rubble of war. These imams, like the sheikhs of Hebron, understand that religion should not be a weapon. It should be a channel for healing, empathy, and common purpose.
Realities on the Ground
While politicians often fuel division, ordinary people quietly continue working together. Despite the violence, Arab and Jewish farmers in parts of the West Bank and northern Israel still collaborates on irrigation and water-sharing projects. Joint business ventures, medical partnerships, and even environmental initiatives endure across political lines. For instance, in the Negev desert, Bedouin communities and Jewish agriculturalists have long shared research on drought-resistant crops. In Haifa, the Technion, Israel’s leading science university has Arab and Jewish students learning side by side, with several joint tech startups emerging from their collaborations. Even in Gaza, before the 2007 Hamas takeover, there were economic zones where Israeli and Palestinian workers manufactured goods together. And there are Gazans today who privately express regret that their society has been hijacked by militant ideologues whose violent tactics have brought only suffering.
What South Africa Can Learn - and Teach
We South Africans must reflect on the parallels. After decades of state-sanctioned racism, we sat down with those we once saw as enemies. The National Party and the ANC sat in the same room. Former operatives of apartheid’s security apparatus walked into Parliament alongside exiled liberation fighters. Why? Because we realised that without dialogue, we were doomed.
That spirit led to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission—flawed, yes, but an extraordinary experiment in restorative justice that still inspires the world. We must also remain vigilant. In our own country, there are worrying trends like political intolerance, censorship of opposing views, and shrinking space for meaningful dissent. The recent actions by Al Jama-ah in laying criminal charges against MPs who visited Israel are symptomatic of a growing danger: that expressing dissenting views on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict is now equated with betrayal.
That cannot be the standard of a democratic society. We should be the first to defend free expression, especially when it facilitates dialogue. If we silence voices who want to explore peace, we surrender to the very forces that once threatened our own transition.
A Call for Courage
When the sheikhs of Hebron seek peace, it should not be viewed with cynicism or suspicion. It should be applauded. When Muslim leaders travel to Jerusalem and pray for peace - not war - we should uplift them. These are not mere optics. They are seeds. And like all seeds, they need nurturing. Peace, after all, is not made in a vacuum. It is forged in boardrooms, back channels, community halls, farms, and prayer rooms. It takes time. It takes risk. It takes people willing to be called traitors today so they can be heroes tomorrow.
Let us not forget that during apartheid, Nelson Mandela was once branded a terrorist. Today, his statue stands in global capitals as a symbol of peace. One day, perhaps these Sheikhs will be remembered in similar reverence - for choosing dialogue when it was easier to choose war.
The Mandela Standard
South Africa’s exports are not only gold, coal, diamonds and rugby champions. It is also our example - our story of improbable reconciliation. We owe it to ourselves and to the world to keep telling that story, and to support those who are now trying to write their own. The sheikhs of Hebron and the imams of Europe are not naïve. They are courageous. In the face of extremism, they offer a third way - one grounded in reason, faith, and moral clarity.
That is the energy we saw at CODESA. That is the spirit of Madiba. And that is the legacy we must uphold - not only for ourselves, but for those across the world still daring to believe that peace is worth the struggle.
*Kamohelo Chauke is a community and student activist at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he has held multiple leadership positions, including serving as a Student Representative Council (SRC) member from 2021 to 2023.