Palestinians ecstatic: Africa/Israel conference postponed

Yesterday I reported that the Arab League was placing the topic of canceling the planned upcoming Africa/Israel conference at the top of its agenda for its upcoming meeting.

That pressure has actually been unrelenting against Togo, the host of the conference, as this August 15 article shows:

Togo is set to invite all 54 countries on the continent to the event, which is scheduled for October 23-27 in the capital Lome. But the Palestinians, Morocco and South Africa are actively seeking to derail the gathering, African and Israeli sources told The Times of Israel.
“This is not taking place without contrary pressure,” Netanyahu said during Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, referring to the Africa-Israel Summit. “Various pressures have been placed on the Togolese president to cancel the conference. These pressures are the best testimony to the success of our policy, of Israel’s presence in Africa.”

It appears that the pressure has succeeded, at least partially, as a visit to the webpage of the conference shows:

JPost reports:

The first ever Israel-Africa Summit scheduled to take place in October has been called off in the aftermath of boycott threats by a number of countries and pressure against the event from Palestinians and Arab countries.

News of the summit's temporary cancellation come as Netanyahu is en route to make the first-ever visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister to Latin America.

In its statement to the press, the Foreign Ministry said that the event had been “postponed” but it did not provide an alternative date.
“At the request of the President of Togo and following a joint consultation with the Prime Minister, it was decided to postpone the convening of the Israel-Africa Summit, scheduled to take place in October in Lomé,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It added that an agreed upon date would be set later by both countries.
“In the near future, Israel will hold consultations in Africa, both on the bilateral level as well as in regional gatherings and fora on the continent in order to guarantee the full success of the summit,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé “thanked and praised the prime minister for his determination to strengthen the cooperation between his country and Israel, as well as for his personal engagement to guarantee the initiative to hold the summit,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Palestinian foreign affairs ministry is taking full credit for its (increasingly rare) diplomatic victory.

However, it appears that a separate Palestinian group has exerted most of the pressure, and the PA foreign ministry jumped on the bandwagon afterwards. This group is actually opposed to the PA.

It looks like Israel will need to continue to be more private about its diplomatic efforts in Africa for the time being.

In the end, the African states will act in their own self interest, and the Palestinians have nothing to offer them except threats.

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