ANC perspective on the International Solidarity Campaign with the People of Palestine

20 October 2023

The struggle of the Palestinian people against illegal Israeli occupation of their motherland and their tireless quest for self-determination has been one of the longest and most painful anti-colonial struggles.

South Africa's struggle against apartheid-colonialism was protracted and arduous.

Today we live in a democratic society where our inviolable human rights and freedoms are guaranteed in the Constitution and respected by those in authority because Our struggle has triumphed against the evil system of apartheid tyranny.

We acknowledge that intemational solidarity played a key role in the ensuring the victory of the struggle against apartheid. Across the world, progressive forces have always understood that all the struggles of the oppressed people against injustices are interconnected and intertwined. Martin Luther King Jnr's words aptly describe the humanism underpinning intemational solidarity: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"

Accordingly. as the progressive forces in South Africa, we have continued broad-based mobilisation in solidarity with the People of Palestine and the Saharawi People and have never stopped calling for an end to the economic blockade of Cuba by the USA.

Over the past two decades, the situation in occupied Palestinian territories has been getting worse. The Palestinian people have been making the case that the Israeli state is subjecting them to forms of racial oppression and brutal suppression similar to what the Black people experienced under the apartheid regime in South Africa.

As activists, we know that there was close affinity and mutual admiration between the Israeli state and the racist apartheid regime: the security apparatuses of the two oppressive regimes studied closely the methods and tactics used by each one Of them to oppress and brutally suppress the people in both countries.

It has now been established through the reports of several Human Rights organisations and Other international bodies that that the totality of the control Of the Palestinian territories and the severity of human rights violations against the Palestinian population qualify to be classified as colonialism and apartheid:

In a 2007 report, a UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine. John Dugard, wrote that “elements Of the Israeli occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law.”

Two Israeli human rights NGOs, Yesh Din (July 2020) and B'TseIem (January 2021) issued separate reports that concluded that "the bar for labelling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met-. This complemented the previous work on Israel's violations of the Convention on the Suppression of the Crime of Apartheid done by Palestinian NGOs, including Addameer, Al-Haq and the Cairo Institute.

In April 2021 , Human Rights Watch became the first major international human rights body to say Israel had crossed the threshold, accusing Israel of apartheid and calling for the prosecution of the Israeli officials under international law.

Amnesty International issued a report in February 2022 equating Israel's practices in occupied Palestinian territories to apartheid.

In March 2022, another UN Special Rapporteur, Michael Lynk. also submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council stating that Israel's control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip "amounts to apartheid, an institutionalized regime of systematic racial oppression and discrimination".

Across the world, many Jewish and Christian clerics, academics, civil society leaders and former soldiers in the Israeli defence force have publicly denounced the atrocious activities perpetrated by the Israeli State against the Palestinian civilian population.

As South Africans, we know fully well the long term effects and the lasting social, economic, psychological, spatial and inter-generational impact Of apartheid and colonialism.

We stand with the Palestinian people today as we did during our long struggle for freedom and democracy in our motherland. We do so not because of their religion or the colour of their skin, but because we are human and they too are human. Their lives matter. Race or religion should not be used to determine our response to human catastrophe and injustice.

The State of Israeli and Zionist lobby groups across the world have feverishly defended the occupation of Palestine and oppression of Palestinians by conflating any criticism of Zionism as both a nationalist ideology and political movement as a criticism of Judaism as a religion. All kinds of tactics are employed to project anyone who is critical of and disagrees with Israel's colonial subjugation and racial oppression of Palestinian people as ant-Jewish or anti-Semitic.

We must make it clear that there is no problem with Judaism as a religion, as there is no problem with Islam, Christianity or any other religion. The problem is when religion is hijacked and turned into a political ideology of oppression by extremists. This has happened with many religions. There is thus a distinction made between Judaism and Zionism. The Zionist movement was founded by secular Jews in the 19th century.

Also, the Palestinian people were historically Muslim, Jewish and Christian. The oppressed peoples of Palestine include Christian and Muslim communities and their holy sites. A large number of Palestine's Christian communities were expelled by the now Israelis during the Nakba. Prominent Christian Palestinian leaders in the PLO and other radical Palestinian movements included Hanan Ashwari and George Habash (Al-Hakim) who was the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Support for, or opposition to the occupation of Palestine should therefore not be reduced to conceptions of ethnic and religious affiliations. There are many Jews and Christians across the world who have a strong Biblical or religious connection with Israel, while being concerned by or even vehemently opposed to oppressive practices and genocidal activities perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the state Of Israel, as there were White patriots who took part in the struggle against apartheid regime in South Africa.

19. One of the tactics of the adherents of the right-wing nationalist ideology of Zionism is to use the name of religion to oppress fellow human beings and do ethnic cleansing as the racists tried to do over many years in our country.

Going back to the origin of the problem: what the Palestinian People have experienced

As we embark on this massive solidarity campaign. it is important that we understand the history of the nature of the conflict between Israel and Palestine so that we can direct our solidarity towards ending the injustice: oppression of the people of Palestine and the unending illegal occupation of their land. We will summarise the timeline of aggressive and provocative actions that have culminated into the present-day conflict and catastrophic events.

Over the past 75 years, various attempts have been made to try and find an amicable solution to Palestine-Israel question, from the 1947 UN Partition Plan of Palestine, including the various agreements aimed at ushering peace such as the 1979 Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords of the 1990s and the 2020 Abraham Accords.

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session adopted Resolution 181 calling for the partitioning of Palestine into two States, one Jewish and another Arab, with Jerusalem administered by a UN run body. This partitioning signalled the end of the British Mandate Over Palestine since the defeat of the Ottoman Empire towards the end of the First World War in 1917. The UN at that time was comprised of a small number of states, mostly then colonial powers and dominated by the Allied countries of the Second World War.

These colonial countries ignored the wishes of the Palestinian people, the petitions and votes of the small number of developing countries and newly decolonised countries in the UN at that time. The UN resolution was done outside the powers of the General Assembly but the effect was to give birth to and recognise a new state (Israel) while at the same rendering the Palestinians stateless in their own land.

In 1948, the intensification of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians resulted in the Nakba catastrophe, where over 700 000 Palestinians were forcefully moved from the areas of Gaza and West Bank, previously allocated to them in terms of the UN Resolution 181 on the partitioning. The UN subsequently passed Resolution 194 which called for the return of the Palestinian refugees who were displaced during the Nakba and the Israel-Arab war.

After 1967 war, Israel annexed the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights as well as the Sinai Peninsula. The UN passed Resolution 242 calling for the withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories.

In 1973, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict became a major issue in the global stage. The Soviet Union backed Egypt and Syria as they attempted to retake the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, Whilst the US backed Israel. The OPEC countries joined into the conflict by imposing an embargo on any country that supported Israel. resulting in sky-rocketing oil prices. This led to the 1973 oil crisis which had serious impact on the global economy.

The 1973 conflict ended through a UN sponsored ceasefire and the passing of Resolution 338 calling for the implementation of Resolution 242, basically calling on Israel to withdraw from all the illegally occupied territories.

The 1978 Camp David Accord ushered peace between Egypt and Israel, and brought some hope for withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

Under President Yasser Arafat, the tireless struggles of Palestinian people and international solidarity led to the adoption of various resolutions by the United Nations, including Resolution 242 calling for the withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank as basis for the creation of the State of Palestine in line with Resolution 181 of 1947.

Where the 1991 Madrid Peace Initiative failed, the 1993 Oslo Accord made a breakthrough, resulting by agreeing to create a Palestinian Authority under the leadership of the PLO with Yasser Arafat as President. This was further buttressed by the Gaza—Jericho Agreement which sought to accelerate implementation of the Oslo Accord. The Oslo Il Accord saw the partial implementation wherein the Palestinian Authority self-governed on several aspects of what promised to be nascent to their Statehood.

It was envisaged that lasting peace was on the horizons but it was never to be in hindsight. Consequently, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

The visit by top leaders of Israel, including Ariel Sharon, of Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, raised fears among Palestinians that Israel wanted to turn the place into a holy site. There was an outbreak of major conflicts and resistance in the year 2000 until 2005. In this period over 4000 Palestinians and over 1000 Israelis were killed.

In this period, 2002, Israel began building the infamous barrier. This wall barrier divided Palestinian communities, distancing many from public facilities such as schools, including access to Jerusalem which is claimed by both Palestine and Israel as a holy site.

Turning Jerusalem into Israeli capital has always been viewed by Palestinians as a provocative act. This included the recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital by the US in 2017. This sparked protests in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West as well as in several other Arab countries, and was also criticised by some European countries such as the UK, France as well as Turkey. The UN Secretary General also criticised the policy stance by the US.

Israel legislated its unilateral withdrawal from parts of Gaza and the West Bank in 2005. The following year in 2006, Hamas defeated Fatah, which was a dominant part of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation for many years. Consequently, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a coalition government.

The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas follows years of continued suppression of the People of Palestine by Israel, which has been overtly supported by the United States. The US unconditionally supports Israel and routinely looks away on the atrocities and other human rights violations committed by the Israeli apartheid State.

The successive US Administrations, both Republicans and Democrats, Trump and Biden alike, have openly sided with and given Israel unconditional political, military, financial, and technological support even when Israeli actions violate the UN Charter, International Law and International Human Rights Law as well as numerous other prescripts and conventions governing the conduct and obligations of occupying power.

The US Administration is thus complicit for the horrendous and relentless massacres of innocent and defenseless women and children in occupied territories over an extended period of time as outlined by Ahmed Kathrada's 2014 article. The US must therefore take full responsibility for Israel's genocidal activities in Gaza and other Palestinian territories.

The Israeli apartheid state's decision to cut off supplies of food, water, electricity and continue the indiscriminate military attack on defenseless civilians and infrastructure and force more than 1 million people to move from the north to the south of Gaza Strip is nothing short of genocide.

There is a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel intensifies its bombardment of civilians and infrastructure, including the latest hospital. More than 1.1 million people forced out of north Gaza, over 400 000 displaced internally and more than 200 000 sheltered in a UN compound run by UNRWA.

Israel, with unwavering support from the US and some European countries, has violated the Hague Convention, the Geneva Convention and ICC Articles. For a long time, Israel was getting away with serious crimes against humanity.

The various UN Resolutions since 1947 spells out lucidly the stance of the United Nations and represent the official policy position of the majority countries around the world over the Palestine-Israel conflict.

South Africa's stance and actions that should be taken to end atrocities and genocide

South Africa has never wavered in its support for the Palestinian people to be free from Israeli domination and illegal occupation. Our stance is consistent with UN Resolutions which have called for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and the urgent implementation of the two-state solution — the independent State of Palestine existing side by side and in peace with the State of Israel.

Comrade Nelson Mandela, the global icon and founding President of our democratic nation, was always unequivocal about the struggle of the Palestinian people: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".

In July 2014, another stalwart of our liberation, Ahmed Kathrada, wrote an opinion piece in newspapers in which he said the following:

"I have been prompted to write this opinion piece after viewing the nightly television images of the horrendous, ongoing atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza. Utilising highly destructive weapons, the main victims have been defenseless civilian women, children and men. Israel's aggression has been violent, merciless and uncivilised. While writing this, my thoughts go back to August-September 1951 when I visited the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. I find myself asking, " has apartheid Israel so quickly forgotten the millions of Jews, Communists and Gypsies who were exterminated by the Nazis, that they now commit the same crimes? The indiscriminate bombings and destruction of infrastructure has resulted in the disruption of electricity and water supplies in Gaza. The human casualties increase at a rate that can only be described as genocide"

Comrade Kathy's 9-year old article describes almost what took place in the past few weeks in Gaza, thus debunking several lies told by the Western media. The first narrative being sold is that this genocidal war against Palestinians only started now due to the recent actions of Hamas. The second narrative we are being sold is that this is the war between Israel and Hamas, not the Palestinian people. Comrade Kathrada speak to us loudly and clearly that these two narratives are false and that the indiscriminate attack on the Palestinian population and their brutal suppression has been underway for a long time.

The West has been looking away and we in the Global South have refused to be silenced. Where is the humanity of those who have been making so much noise about the war in Ukraine, while keeping quiet about atrocities and the genocide in Palestinian territories?

It is the spirit of Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada that spur us to intensify the global solidarity against apartheid Israel and continue the fight for the freedom of the Palestinian people. We refuse to be silenced.

We need lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. No amount of atrocities committed by the Israeli apartheid state will silence and suppress the Palestinian's thirst for freedom, self-determination and nationhood. No amount violence directed at Israeli civilians by Hamas will aid the cause of the Palestinian people. When the ANC was involved in the armed struggle against the racist apartheid regime, civilians were never the target of military operations. In fact, the actions of Hamas to kill Israeli civilians have played into the hands of the rightwing securocrats and war mongers of the apartheid state of Israel. We strongly condemn the killing of innocent and defenceless civilians in any conflict.

As the progressive people of South Africa represented by various political organisations, trade unions, religious communities across all faith, we call for the immediate ceasefire and the resumption of peaceful negotiations.

We further call for the speedy resolution of the conflict through the two-state solution, of Israel and of Palestine, premised on the 1967 borders. We consider the various encroachment and evictions of Palestinian communities to create Jewish settlements as a violation of human rights and the due sovereignty of the Palestinian people as per the 1947 Resolution 181 , Resolution 242 and many other subsequent resolutions and accords reinforcing the two State solution.

We call on the United Nations to have physical presence in Gaza and the West Bank, to ensure cessation of hostilities.

We condemn the Israeli demand that over a million Palestinian should overnight leave their homes in preparation for an Israeli genocide.

We condemn in the strongest terms the bombing of the hospital which is a gross violation of human rights.

We deplore the inconsistency and biases by many western countries on the gross atrocities committed by the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people as counterpoised to their condemnation of Russia over Ukraine.

We demand that the Israeli leaders should be blacklisted and forced to appear at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

We hereby communicate to the people of Palestine that we are with them in their struggle for national freedom from the Israeli regime.

We support the South African government’s call for Israel to ensure safe passage of humanitarian aid, which include medical supplies and food. We condemn any blockade of such humanitarian aid as complicit to aggravating the humanitarian disaster and genocide against the Palestinian people. And that we will explore avenues by which materially we can facilitate helping those in need of medical attention as well as on matters of food security. And in this we call on the UN to speed up creation of safe corridors for the dispensing of intemational aid to the people of Palestine.

We believe that a peaceful Israel can only exist with a peaceful Palestine as per the 1947 Resolution 181 and Resolution 242 of 1948 and all these premised on the 1967 borders.

We recognise that the people of Palestine have suffered enough, many humiliated at checkpoints controlled by young Israel soldiers who evidently enjoy dehumanising elderly Palestinians as evidenced by various documentaries in this regard.

We also recognise that the current episode of the conflicts as of October 2023 follows years of murder of innocent Palestinians by the Israeli regime with impunity. This includes the murder of an Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh of which the Israeli regime has arrogantly refused to subject the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

We condemn the selective morality and unconscionable stance of the US and some EU countries that have spoken only about the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas while saying nothing about the killing of Palestinian civilians by the state of Israel. The actions these countries communicate is the clear message that the lives of the Palestinians do not matter!

We call on the ICC to immediately indicate their intention to investigate the grave breaches by Israeli leaders of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute.

Failure to do so would further cement the sense by many in the international community that the ICC, like others in the West, have a selective and biased approach to the implementation of International Law.

64. We call on all young South Africans to refuse military call up by the Israeli war mongers, as we called on young White patriots to refuse military conscription during the anti-apartheid struggle. None of our patriots should participate in committing a genocide in Palestinian territories. Say no to Israeli military conscription. Call for peace. Call for a ceasefire.

Issued by ANC, 20 October 2023