Why South Africa is qualified to lead the way on Palestine
On Sept. 16 I visited South Africa, where many Palestinians have always felt welcomed, if not overwhelmed by the degree of genuine and meaningful solidarity. While having the honor of addressing many audiences in six major cities, I learned a great deal.
An important and sobering lesson is that while apartheid laws can be dismissed in a day, economic apartheid and massive inequality can linger for many years. Thanks to my interactions with many South African intellectuals, activists and ordinary folk, I learned not to romanticize the South African struggle, a crucial lesson for those of us fighting to end Israeli apartheid in Palestine. My hosts at the Afro-Middle East Center ensured that I met with diverse audiences, including top members of the African National Congress (ANC), the leadership of the country’s two major union groups, anti-apartheid scholars and activists, and a large number of students and other people throughout South Africa.
The main, obvious conclusion from all these meetings and interactions is that South Africans are serious about their solidarity with Palestine, and that they see themselves as partners in the Palestinian struggle for justice and peace. But while they are always ready to take their solidarity with Palestine to a whole new level, there is a general feeling that decisive political moves can prove costly for South Africa.
Its government has taken several steps in the right direction. On May 14, 2018, Pretoria recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, to protest the killing of hundreds of unarmed protesters taking part in the Great March of Return in besieged Gaza. On April 5, 2019, it began to actively downgrade its ties with Israel in response to a call by the ANC leadership.
While these steps are significant, South Africa is yet to take the kind of action that, when combined with other measures of international solidarity, could finally force Israel to dismantle its system of apartheid in Palestine.
The problem is not the lack of willingness or of diplomatic doublespeak. There is a growing and justifiable sense that Arab governments no longer see the liberation of Palestine as a common objective. While the Arab peoples remain committed in their support of Palestinians, Arab governments have fallen into warring camps and political divisions.
Yet a top ANC leader told me that South Africa’s policy regarding Palestine is guided by the agendas of the Arab League and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Sadly, neither the Arab League nor the PLO are serving the roles they were entrusted with decades ago. The former is marred in divisions, and the latter has been effectively replaced by the provisional, factional Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Using ineffectual organizations as a legal and moral frame of reference is hurting
South Africa’s chances of converting its solidarity with Palestine into tangible political assets. The other dilemma is that Africa is no longer united regarding Palestine. Israel has driven a wedge between African countries, which at one point were united in their unconditional support of the Palestinian struggle against military occupation and apartheid.
Israel’s successes in Africa, especially through the penetration of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have made Tel Aviv a political player on the continent. Boosted by the welcome he received from various African leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped to hold the Israel-Africa Summit in October 2017. Thanks to the efforts of African countries such as South Africa and Algeria, the summit was postponed.
If Israel continues to score political victories while facing little resistance, it will eventually dominate Africa. The absurdity of this matter goes beyond the struggle in Palestine. A continent that was ravaged by colonialism, racism and apartheid should not embrace the likes of Israel, which exemplifies the very ills that have cost Africa so dearly for hundreds of years.
The issue of solidarity with Palestine, and the pressing need to block Israel’s scourges in Africa, are intrinsically linked. In this link, South Africa can find a way to reclaim its natural role as a vanguard against racism and apartheid everywhere.
My suggestion to the ANC is that South Africa should update its frame of reference, moving away from tired cliches of a defunct two-state solution to a whole new way of thinking. And it should not do it alone; all of Africa and all Palestinians should be part of this effort.
I strongly believe that South Africa is ready to counter Israel’s efforts on the continent by initiating an Africa-Palestine Conference, a major gathering that aims to harness all the solidarity with the Palestinian people throughout all African countries.
Whether the conference is held under the auspices of the African Union or independently, the gathering of like-minded African and Palestinian leaders, parliamentarians, scholars and civil society leaders can develop a new frame of reference that the whole world can use as a guiding principle of new thinking on Palestine. Based on the call by Palestinian civil society in 2005 to boycott Israel, the Palestinian people have been demanding and expecting this new thinking for at least 15 years.
Those who might find the idea that Africa can lead the way in forming a new, global understanding on Palestine far-fetched need to remember that it was the Organization of African Unity’s resolution 77 (XII) of August 1975 that recognized and condemned the “organic link” between “the racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regime in Zimbabwe and South Africa.” That resolution served as a major frame of reference in UN Resolution 3379 of November 1975, which determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”
Africa must reclaim its position as a global leader in the fight against racism and apartheid, and South Africa is very qualified to spearhead these efforts. After all, as iconic South African leader Nelson Mandela once said: “We all know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”