Statement of solidarity with the people of Palestine by Buti Manamela, National Secretary of the YCLSA, 9 August 2014

The social media blogger Mira Sucharov asked the pertinent question: "Which side of the Israel - Palestine conflict are you?". He goes to make this very relevant assertion on this question in particular and conflicts in general, and I quote: "Now that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire seems to be holding, here at The Fifth Question I'm taking the opportunity to mull over the tone and tenor of social media discourse over the last month. Its not surprising to see citizens (or residents) of a territory lining up behind their government during wartime while decrying the villainy of the enemy. And there will always be many within a given ethnic community who see their "side" as necessarily in the right"

Now these are profound utterances for anyone who do not only aspire for peaceful settlement of the any conflict in general and the Israel-Palestinian conflict in particular. Wars are waged by those who believe that force is not only the viable option they have, but that it would help them realize their political objectives.

It is important to appreciate the nature of the Israel conflict from both a historic and contemporary context. It is important even without revisiting the details, to appreciate the conflict as a result of the injustices of the past. In South Africa we know too well how the injustices of colonialism and later apartheid occasioned what was similar of the Israel Apartheid State. Many would however agree, without romanticizing the brutalities of apartheid, that what the Palestinians suffers is without comparison to the past South African situation.

The use of tanks and fighter jets against defenseless civilians by the Israel State against Palestinians undoubtedly demonstrate the disproportionate use of force. Of course some would argue that Hamas is using rockets against Israel. But one merely have to look into the death toll on either side to appreciate this disproportionate use of force. Even more so, one merely need look into the actual victims of the Israel relentless bombardment of Palestinian residential areas which are innocent children and women.

Over the period of a month, the alarming statistics stood as follows in the aggression against the Palestinians:

Palestinians killed - 1,868

Palestinians Injured - 9,567

Demolished Structures: 5,510[1]

Partially Demolished Structures: 4,674[2]

Damaged Homes: 30,920[3]

Schools Damaged -141

Damaged Hospitals and Health Centers - 17 hospitals and 7 PHC clinics were damaged, 10 hospitals and 44 primary health clinics were closed, 22 ambulances were damaged, and 83 health personnel injured, 19 health personnel died after Israeli airstrikes.

Attacks against Religious Sites - 46 mosques cannot be used and 140 have been partially damaged. Ten Muslim cemeteries have been targeted. Two Churches and one Christian cemetery have been Partially Damaged.

All this demonstrates that this is a full scale war unfortunately waged against a defenseless people.

At the core of the Israel-Palestinian conflict are the injustices of the past, which resulted in the annexation of Palestinian territory to establish the Israel State in 1948. Ever since the US has helped arm the Israel State machinery with the kind of weapons it is now unleashing against the Palestinian civilians. In recent times we have witnessed the forked tongue of the US Administration condemning the downing of flight MH17 through what is alleged to have been Russian made rocket. But the same US is saying nothing about the fact that in the Palestinian-Israel conflict US made fighter jets and US money is used to sponsor the conflict.

In the minds of many across the world, the arrogance of the Israel apartheid State is nothing but a proxy of the US international policy. We have in the US Administration an institution that believes in the use of force and sanctions to ensure compliance with its own national interests. Thus we cannot condemn the Israel State without condemning the very State that gives it the muscle to unleash injustice against innocent Palestinian women and children.

We believe that our stance is premised on objectivity and cannot suffer the blind patriotism that Mira Sucharov speaks of as we are neither citizens of Palestine nor of Israel. We must declare for the whole world to know that neutrality in the face of naked injustice is equal to complicity to the injustice itself. Our generation will be judged harshly by history for doing nothing as a powerful Israel State refuses to implement the Two State solution merely because they do not want to see Hamas having any say in Palestinian politics. Today we must ask Israel as to who are they to can tell how the Palestinian should govern themselves and if that call in itself is not antithetical to their pretences to democracy.

We are not as the rest of the world oblivious to what has been described as an "intractable conflict" between the Palestinians and the Israelis. We know too well the place that religion occupies in the minds of the Israelis and the Palestinians. But we also know that all these matters are already taken care of in the Oslo Agreement that re-iterates the calls for a Two State solution between the two nations.

As South Africa continues to play a key diplomatic role, it should not be one that is oblivious to the fact that the conflict perpetuates and reinforces the injustices of the annexation of Palestinian territory by Israel. We must call on the US to do as it preaches. The US has gone to sanction Russia because it believes Russia can and must reign in the Pro-Russia militants fighting against the Ukranian interim government. It is this forked tongue US foreign policy that we must condemn as it brings the world ever closer to the kind of conflicts that saw the bloodiest war in history, the Second World War.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is a reminder of the commitment we must make to peace but in the same breadth a commitment also to justice, equality and democracy. As many have alluded, there can never be peace where injustice reigns supreme. It is our contention that the conflict reflects the injustices that are daily unleashed on ordinary Palestinians. Daily Palestinians are humiliated by young Israel soldiers who as Mira Sucharov would assert are brainwashed into unconditionally supporting their country's warefare against innocent Palestinian women and children.

As many would know, are country's stance as inspired by the Freedom Charter and the recent experiences since at least 1990, is that we must export peace to the rest of the world and not war. We must applaud the initiatives by President Jacob Zuma who has sent envoys to help broker a ceasefire, and those being senior leaders of our movement in Cdes Aziz Pahad and Zola Skweyiya. As South Africa we must continue to condemn injustice lest our calls for peace be misinterpreted to mean we wish to cover up those injsutices.

Very importantly, we must call on both sides to the conflict to desist from any further aggression and work towards the kind of relationship envisaged in the Two State solution.

I thank you!

Issued by the YCLSA, August 9 2014

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