DA insists Maimane was scheduled to meet Abbas

The opposition party maintains Abbas was scheduled to meet with Maimane but that the Palestinian leader cancelled at the last minute.

The Palestinian embassy in South Africa issued a statement earlier, saying the DA leader had not informed the embassy of his intention to visit the region and that no meetings had been arranged with the Palestinian Authority as claimed by Maimane.

The embassy also says it has no record of meetings between Maimane and any Palestinian official in Ramallah.

However, DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme says the Palestinian embassy's statement is inaccurate.

"The DA understands that the Embassy had not been given a full briefing by their government, but we would have preferred for them to contact us, or indeed their own principals, before releasing a false public statement."

She says the DA had informed South Africa's embassy in Ramallah of the meeting, and invited its ambassador to join.

"This is incontrovertible. We visited the Palestinian Territories, met with human rights activists, visited refugees in Ramallah, and met with leaders of the business community and investors who are building the new Palestine despite the ongoing conflict.

 "We did not inform the Palestinian Authority embassy in South Africa before our visit, we were not required to do so as South Africans do not require visas in order to visit the region. We communicated directly with the president's office."

She says the DA remains committed to a two-state solution and believe that South Africa should play a much more constructive role in bringing the conflicted parties together to talk and negotiate a peaceful settlement.

The DA provides the following timeline of contact:

January 2:

Phone conversation with the Director of Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas’s Protocol Office. Verbal request for official address to pass on written request – an email was provided.

Email and official letter to Chief Protocol Officer, Neveen Sarraj, with a meeting request to meet with President Abbas (see below).

The next day an email was received from Daniel at the SA Mission saying the issue was receiving attention.