Palestine/SA tradition of support continues to this day
THE love, solidarity and camaraderie expressed by South Africans towards the Palestinian people over the many decades that Palestinians have been struggling for freedom from Israeli occupation and political self determination, is by now a well-known story of deep political and historical connection between the two nations.
This connection forged in struggle for liberation from the dark forces of colonialism, oppression and segregation is one that has created deep and lasting relationships between South Africans and Palestinians at all levels.
This is particularly evident when one reflects on the historical role played by the South African government in supporting the people of Palestine.
The images of great affection between the late Nelson Mandela and Yasser Arafat at their meeting in 1990 after Mandela was released from prison, is testimony to this long-standing love affair between the two people.
It is also a reminder to South Africans that when they were struggling for liberation from apartheid, the people of Palestine stood with them, even with the many challenges that they faced at the time.
This tradition of support for each other continues to this day and was most powerfully demonstrated more recently when the South African government took the state of Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the charges of committing genocide against the Palestinian people residing in Gaza.
Under the capable and eminent leadership of the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, the ministry together with the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, and a high-level South African legal team, presented a powerful case with evidence of the genocide, and requested a range of measures from the court, to provide relief to the Palestinians.
The ICJ’s response was to order the granting of most of the measures with the ruling that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide. This was arguably a defining point in modern history.
Israel which has become used to not being held accountable for any of its violations of human rights or international law over 76 years, was for the first time being asked to answer for its actions.
It was being asked to account for decades of brutalising, murdering, maiming and dehumanising Palestinians, among many other crimes that it has committed with impunity.
It is in this very moment that we as South Africans and Palestinians realised that something had shifted profoundly in the Palestinian narrative. For the first time, the apartheid state of Israel was being forced to stand in front of an international platform and answer to a panel of judges that were chosen to be the legal voice of the international community.
The fact that it had happened at all is testament to the courage of the minister whose portfolio and role it is in the South African government to take on such difficult issues on an international platform, and justify the decisions that have been taken by the government that she serves.
In the months and weeks since the case was heard at the ICJ, the South African government has been lauded
in many circles, and sadly vilified in others, for its actions. Albeit that the killing of the Palestinians by the Israelis has still not stopped, regardless of the ruling by the ICJ, and more recently a UN Security Council resolution supporting a ceasefire, the South African government’s actions have set a precedent that is historic and indeed epic.
In great part it is due to Pandor’s ongoing message both at home and abroad that what the South African
government did was morally correct, and in fact necessary and inevitable.
It required, of course, her fortitude, resilience and courage to not buckle under the pressures that she was being placed under, for the actions to be upheld and indeed for other countries to follow suit by bringing their own legal cases against Israel to the ICJ and other international platforms.
The question that arises now is how to ensure that the case of genocide that
has been opened against Israel, reaches its natural conclusion to hold Israel and its leadership accountable with punitive legal consequences.
The more urgent question is, of course, how to end the genocide that has resulted in over 34 000 dead with more than 8 000 missing under the rubble of bombed buildings, which is tantamount to almost 42 000 murdered by Israel since October 8 last year.
The call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire has been growing ever louder for more than six months with millions of people across the globe coming out on to the streets demanding the ceasefire and an end to the genocide.
Given the gravitas and tenacity displayed by the South African government and Pandor on this issue, and certainly the ongoing protests by hundreds of thousands of South Africans and millions across the globe, there can be no doubt that the day is not too far off when apartheid Israel will be held accountable for its crimes, the occupation of Palestine will end, and our Palestinian brothers and sisters will experience the freedom that they once prayed for us to achieve.
May we all as South Africans meet in a Free Palestine to celebrate with them, when this day arrives.