Step up rally for Palestine

ON THURSDAY, staff reporter Anitha May reported in this paper that the ANC in the Western Cape and the Muslim Judicial Council, together with Palestine Solidarity Movement, are planning a March on May 15 against Israel’s killing of protesting Palestinians.

What is interesting from the story is that this is not new. Citizens of Western Cape and Cape Town, in particular, will recount the 2014 massive protest in the streets of Cape Town when Israel was bombing Gaza. The bombing was called Operation Protective Edge and the UN says at least 2 104 Palestinian died, including 1 462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women.

The protest was a success, according to organisers, pulling in a reported 20 000 people to the streets of Cape Town. But that was in 2014 and Israel’s aggression against Palestinians has not ceased. If anything, the recent Palestinian #GreatReturnMarch along the border of the besieged Gaza and Israel has shown Israel’s unwillingness to halt its killing of Palestinians.

It is reported that 30 Palestinians have died from live ammunition and over 2 000 injured. This includes killing of journalists and gassing of clinics. What the ANC in the Western Cape and its allies must convince us about is: at what point does it make a difference?

At what point do we say what we are doing is bearing fruit with a government that continues, unabated, to have diplomatic relations with Israel? The ANC in the Western Cape should intensify efforts within its own ranks to convince its mother body to implement its resolution to downgrade the South African embassy in Israel.

Further, it must agitate the governing party to sever all ties with the volatile state of Israel.

Because we understand what others did for us during our time of need, we will support their call – but the Western Cape ANC and its allies must do more and convince us, civil society, to join into a cause that bears fruit. HUSSAIN PETERS Salt River