African Philosophical Perspectives on South Africa’s Contribution to Global Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding: Insights from the Israel-Palestine Dispute

The Russian-Ukraine conflict drew Africa’s attention, which saw an opportunity to promote its philosophy of Ubuntu. This is where South and African leaders emphasize the principles of nation-building and peace initiatives. Additionally, African leaders further urged the leaders of both states to follow Ubuntu’s principles to prevent further humanitarian crises. In the same breath, South Africa also depicted such attributes in the stance against Israel’s brutality towards Palestinians in Gaza, highlighting the genocide and mass killings. South Africa argued that this cannot be condoned in any way, hence advocating for communalism and peace. South Africa believes that communalism through intense consensus can bring peace and stability to the Gaza war. This action reflects the Ubuntu principle of social justice and reconciliation advocated by the late Rev. Desmond Tutu. From this perspective, the paper employs a qualitative research method, including a desktop study and search engines, to examine South Africa’s contribution to global conflict resolution and peacebuilding, using the Israel-Palestine dispute as a case study. The findings show that South Africa has contributed a lot of philosophical perspectives, such as Ubuntu, communalism, and villagisation in Africa. Thus, the paper concludes that South Africa, like other African leaders, advocates for conflict resolution and peacebuilding in the Middle East conflict, and achieves these through the application of African philosophy. Keywords: Israel-Palestine, South Africa, Conflict Resolution, African Philosophy, Peacebuilding