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naledi pandor
'Watershed Moment': Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine Kicks Off in South Africa
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the movement to end Israeli apartheid is "following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela" and "will not rest until the freedom of the peoples of Palestine is realized."
May 10, 2024
As Israeli forces continued their devastating assault on the Gaza Strip and deadly occupation of the West Bank, human rights defenders from around the world gathered Friday in South Africa—which is leading a genocide case against Israel at the World Court—for the inaugural Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine.
The conference began with a moment of silence for the nearly 35,000 Palestinians—most of them women and children—killed by Israeli troops during the 217-day war and "complete siege," which has also wounded more than 78,000 people, displaced around 90% of the strip's population, and starved at least hundreds of thousands of others—dozens of whom have died.
Meanwhile, Israel's illegal occupation and settler colonization have intensified in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where soldiers and settlers have killed at least 467 Palestinians and wounded or arrested thousands of others—some of whom were tortured—over the past seven months.
"This conference must make sure that we mobilize the world... and free the people of Palestine," Rev. Frank Chikane of the African National Congress (ANC) and World Council of Churches said at the start of the symposium.
Thanking Chikane for "spearheading" conference organizing efforts, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor hailed the "watershed moment" of "anti-apartheid movements on Palestine from around the globe coming together and joining forces in the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people."
"It has never been so urgent for the progressive forces around the globe to come together in a collective effort to exert maximum pressure to end the genocidal campaign underway in Gaza, and to end the apartheid system in Israel and the occupied territories, which is worse than what we experienced in our own country," she asserted, echoing past remarks by other South Africans and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Pandor highlighted South Africa's December
filing of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a move supported by over 30 countries and regional blocs and hundreds of advocacy groups. In January, the ICJ found that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government to prevent future genocidal acts—an order human rights monitors say Israel has ignored, largely by blocking humanitarian aid. In March, the ICJ ordered Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.
"We will continue to do everything within our power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group, to end all acts of apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people, and to walk with them towards the realization of their collective right to self-determination," Pandor said. "We continue to do so following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and will not rest until the freedom of the peoples of Palestine is realized."
Ronnie Kasrils—a communist who went from being a guerrilla fighter in the ANC's armed wing during the apartheid era to a government minister in a free South Africa—warned against compromising in the fight for freedom. He also reaffirmed Palestinians' legal right to "armed struggle, an international right of resistance against tyranny, against military occupation."
Anti-Apartheid stalwart Ronnie Kasrils gives a passionate address at the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference On Palestine. #PalestineAfrica2024 pic.twitter.com/32i6KQfA85
— Salaamedia (@salaamedia) May 10, 2024
"There is no need to pussyfoot around the fact when we have our discussions about the rights of the Palestinians to resist with arms," Kasrils stressed.
Palestinian lawmaker, physician, and activist Mustafa Barghouti said that "we've woken the people of the world against genocide and injustice... and hypocrisy of international governments."
"Israel initiated this war but Israel will not be the one who decides how it ends," he added.
Lamis Deek, a New York-based attorney specializing in international human rights, called for "liberation of all the land from institutions of Zionist violence and supremacy, return, reparations, justice and accountability for every Zionist crime, and restitution."
"The Palestinian resistance is on the frontline against global descent into darkness and barbarism" @Lamis_Deek speaks powerfully about what it we means when we speak about Palestinian liberation. At The Global Anti Apartheid Conference on Palestine#PalestineAfrica pic.twitter.com/2eKGrS2EZ6
— CAGE International (@CAGEintl) May 10, 2024
Declan Kearney, a member of Northern Ireland's Legislative Assembly and national chairman of the Irish republican and democratic socialist party Sinn Féin, noted that "Palestinian and Irish freedom fighters share a special bond. Our commitment is absolute and unbreakable."
The Republic of Ireland said in March that it would intervene in the South African ICJ case and the country—along with fellow European Union members Spain, Slovenia, and Malta—is set later this month to join the nearly 140 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood.
The United Nations General Assembly voted 143-9 on Friday to approve Palestine's bid for full U.N. membership. The United States—Israel's leading international backer—and Israel voted against the proposal, which will head to the U.N. Security Council and an almost certain U.S. veto.
Kearney echoed other speakers who stressed the importance of international solidarity, applauding the "unprecedented" global outpouring of support for Palestine.
"We are with the Palestinian people on their long walk to freedom and will never abandon them," he vowed.
While many Israelis and their backers bristle at the apartheid label, Palestinians and individuals ranging from Carter to the late South African bishop and human rights campaigner Desmond Tutu to United Nations special rapporteurs have for decades called Israel's policies and actions in Palestine apartheid.
Major human rights organizations—including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli groups B'Tselem and Yesh Din—have also done so. So have prominent Israelis including a former Mossad chief, multiple former attorneys general and ambassadors, and a growing number of journalists, artists, veterans, and others.
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South Africa Joins Growing List of Countries Cutting Ties With Israel Over 'Genocide' in Gaza
"A genocide under the watch of the international community cannot be tolerated," said one government official in South Africa.
Nov 06, 2023
In its latest show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the government of South Africa on Monday announced it will withdraw all diplomatic staff from Israel over its objection to what one official called the Israeli military's "genocidal acts" against Gaza and the West Bank during its ongoing assault on the blockaded enclave.
All of South Africa's diplomats have been called back from Tel Aviv, said Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said last month that people in South Africa, where an official apartheid system was in place for more than four decades, "can relate to what is happening to Palestinians."
As the death toll in Gaza climbed over 10,000 and the number of children killed by Israel's bombardment surpassed 4,100, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told the press that the diplomatic mission was being recalled because "a genocide under the watch of the international community cannot be tolerated."
"The failure of the international community to hold Israel to account and... to stop the impunity and the genocidal acts that the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian people will mean a total collapse of a multinational system," said Ntshavheni. "If... the United States does not stop the bombardment by Israel of the Palestinian territory, it will mean everybody will take matters in their own hands and do as they please."
The minister particularly expressed concern over comments made on Sunday by Amichay Eliyahu, the minister of heritage for Israel's Jewish Power party, in which he said dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza—home to more than 2 million people, about half of whom are children, is "one way" to neutralize the threat of Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took more than 200 people hostage on October 7. Eliyahu was suspended from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Sunday.
Ntshavheni also rebuked comments made by Eliav Belotserkovsky, the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, who made "disparaging remarks" about South Africans who have marched and protested against the bombardment of Gaza, including hundreds of people who marched in Cape Town last week and assembled outside the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg in October.
Supporters of Palestinians have called for Belotserkovsky to be expelled from the country in recent days.
Ntshavheni said South Africa's department of international relations is taking "the necessary measures within the diplomatic channels and protocols" to hold Belotserkovsky to account.
In March, South African lawmakers voted to downgrade the status of Israel's embassy in Pretoria in response to its apartheid policies in Palestine and its illegal occupation.
Bolivia became the first country to sever diplomatic relations with Israel earlier this month, citing the government's "disproportionate" attacks on Gaza. Chile, Colombia, Turkey, and Jordan, where Queen Rania Al Abdullah has emerged as an outspoken critic of Israel's onslaught on American news channels, have also withdrawn their diplomats.
Countries that have continued to back Israel, said former member of British Parliament Chris Williamson, "should be indicted for their collaboration in war crimes."
Naledi Pandor, minister of international relations in South Africa, said the government believes "the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment," which is banned under international law.
"We need to have this engagement with our officials," said Pandor, "because we are extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians in the Palestinian territory."
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'We Will Not Be Silenced': Tlaib Headlines DC Nakba Event Despite McCarthy Meddling
The Michigan Democrat joined rights groups in a Senate committee room to mark the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the founding of modern Israel.
May 10, 2023
An event featuring U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib commemorating the Nakba—the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland during Israel's War of Independence 75 years ago—went ahead as scheduled Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C, despite an attempt by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to derail it.
Tlaib (D-Mich.)—the only Palestinian-American in the House of Representatives—spoke after Nakba survivors and activists at the event, "Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People," which took place in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) chairs the HELP panel.
"We have a right to tell our stories of the Nakba of 1948," Tlaib told the packed room, according to the advocacy group Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN), a co-host of the event. "And today, because the Nakba never ended."
\u201cLet the headlines read \u201cMcCarthy tries to erase Palestine but fails.\u201d\u201d— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib) 1683766794
On Tuesday, McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that "the event in the U.S. Capitol has been canceled" and replaced with "a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the U.S.-Israel relationship."
"It's wrong for members of Congress to traffic in antisemitic tropes about Israel," the congressman toldThe Washington Free Beacon. "As long as I'm speaker, we are going to support Israel's right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion."
\u201cFind me a more perfect example of anti-Palestinian racism. Kevin McCarthy cancels Rashida Tlaib's planned event on the nakba. He says Tlaib traffics in "antisemitic tropes" about Israel. The nakba is not an antisemitic trope, it's a historical fact. https://t.co/9KdwuNsFq9\u201d— Alex Kane (@Alex Kane) 1683729077
However, Tlaib issued a statement Wednesday clarifying that the event was still on.
"We fully plan on moving forward with this event and we will continue to ensure that Palestinian voices are heard," she asserted. "We will not be silenced."
"Our hope is to create opportunities for Palestinians, both here at home and abroad, who continue to experience the impacts of the Nakba, to tell their stories," the congresswoman explained. "The trauma and painful loss of their connections to family, villages they grew up in, and so much more needs to be acknowledged, not only for healing, but also to create an honest pathway for peace."
\u201cAn overflowing room joined @RepRashida in commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Nakba in a historic event on Capitol Hill. #Nakba75\u201d— IMEU (@IMEU) 1683764587
"Speaker McCarthy wants to rewrite history and erase the existence and truth of the Palestinian people, but he has failed to do so," she added. "This event is planned to bring awareness about the Nakba and create space for Palestinian-Americans who experienced the Nakba firsthand to tell their stories of trauma and survival."
Tlaib said that "McCarthy is desperate to distract from the mounting crises happening on his watch: a scandal-plagued member he has defended was just arrested on 13 federal charges, his twice-impeached MAGA leader was just found liable for sexual abuse, and he's hurtling our country towards a disastrous default on our debt in order to cut vital programs like veterans' health care, food assistance, and Medicaid."
"The Nakba is a well-documented historical event that is recognized by the United Nations," she noted. "We cannot allow the same people who want to ban books and erase history simply because they're uncomfortable with the truth to silence Palestinian voices."
More than 750,000 Arabs from hundreds of cities, towns, and villages fled or were expelled from Palestine—sometimes by massacre, "death march," and other violence—during the formation of the modern state of Israel in 1947-49. Hundreds of Palestinian villages were destroyed to make way for newcomers whose only prerequisite for Israeli citizenship is being Jewish.
\u201cImportant to remember that the founding of Zionism in the late 19th century is what sparked the Nakba, since the ideology called for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. At the time, Jews only made up around 5% of the Indigenous Palestinian population. 2/\u201d— Ghada Sasa, PhD Candidate \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 (@Ghada Sasa, PhD Candidate \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8) 1683665679
The militarized segregation of Israelis and Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and elsewhere is considered a crime of apartheid by numerous Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights groups, as well as by prominent international figures including United Nations officials, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and other Nobel laureates, and South African leaders who lived under apartheid during the 20th century.
Meanwhile, more than 7 million Palestinian refugees have been denied the right of return guaranteed under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194.
\u201cNakba survivors in attendance being recognized by the crowd.\u201d— DAWN MENA (@DAWN MENA) 1683759272
Co-hosts of Wednesday's event include: the Institute for Middle East Understanding, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, Project48, DAWN, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, American Friends Service Committee, Virginia Coalition for Human Rights, Emgage Action, and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action.
"This month, Palestinians will mark 75 years since the Nakba. Understanding the truth of the Nakba is not only about acknowledging historical facts, but also vital to understanding the ongoing violence of Israeli apartheid," JVP Action executive director Stefanie Fox said in a statement Wednesday. "We are proud to be part of the massive and growing number of Jews facing painful truths as part of working toward a shared future of justice, equality, and freedom."
\u201cDespite @SpeakerMcCarthy\u2019s pathetic attempt to stop a #Nakba75 commemoration event with @RepRashida by commandeering the Capitol event space the night before, the event went on. Standing room only. POWERFUL! We will not be erased. Palestine will be free. \u270a\ud83c\udffd\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8\u201d— Huwaida Arraf (@Huwaida Arraf) 1683764913
For the second straight year, Tlaib on Wednesday introduced a resolution recognizing the Nakba and calling on Congress to "condemn all manifestations of Israel's ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people," particularly the "illegal theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; Israel's displacement of Palestinians by destroying their homes and forcing them from their land; and the daily brutality and violence inflicted by the Israeli military and Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians."
"True peace can only be built on truth and justice," Tlaib said in a statement. "As we mark 75 years since the horror of the Nakba, we honor the thousands of lives lost, and the nearly 800,000 Palestinians who were forced from their homes and violently displaced from their communities during this period of intense ethnic cleansing."
Reps. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—all of whom endorsed Tlaib's 2022 resolution—co-sponsored this year's version.
Tlaib's resolution was published as Israeli military forces continued to bombard Gaza in retaliation for earlier rocket fire by Palestinian resistance fighters responding to the death of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian activist imprisoned in Israel without charge or trial, during an 87-day hunger strike.
\u201cAn Israeli missile strike around 3:45 p.m. today in Gaza City killed 10-year-old Layan Bilal Mohammad Abdullah Mdoukh and 16-year-old Yazan Jawdat Fathi Elayyan. \n\nIsraeli forces have killed 6 Palestinian children during Operation Shield and Arrow. #GazaUnderAttack\u201d— Defense for Children (@Defense for Children) 1683746880
At least 21 Palestinians, no less than a dozen of whom were civilians—including at least six women and six children—have been killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes.
On Wednesday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor urged the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for the "leaders of apartheid Israel" who are "supporting the massacre of the people of Palestine."
\u201c\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: South Africa's Minister of International Relations & Cooperation, @DIRCO_ZA, Naledi Pandor calls on the @IntlCrimCourt to issue arrest warrants for the "leaders of apartheid Israel" who are responsible for "the massacre of the people of Palestine."\n\n#ICC4Israel\u201d— BDS movement (@BDS movement) 1683742371
"South Africa is a longstanding partner in solidarity with the people of Palestine given that they supported our own struggle for freedom," Pandor said. "We call on the world to be as concerned about the deaths of Palestinians as they are concerned about deaths of [people in] any other nation of the world."
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