Organisations to group for Al Quds Day

PALESTINIAN solidarity organisations are preparing for mass action today to mark Al Quds Day.

The event will take place at St George’s Cathedral in Wale Street, in the CBD, from 3pm to 4pm.

Al Quds Day, or International Quds Day, has become an annual international day against Israeli occupation and in support of Palestine, held on the last Friday of the month of Ramadaan, first initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign spokesperson Usuf Chikte said the day “exists in defiance and opposition to the Jerusalem Day celebrations instituted and celebrated by Israel since 1968 with the conquest through war and subsequent illegal occupation, with its attendant ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, population transfers and desecration of religious sites directed particularly at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre”.

Organisations that will be present are, among others, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, District Six Museum,

Al-Jama-ah, EFF, Azanian People’s Organisation, SA Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition, Salt River Heritage Society, Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association, General Industries Workers Union of South Africa, New Unity Movement, Progressive Organisations' Forum, National Union of Public Service & Allied Workers, and student solidarity organisations.

Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association chairperson Osman Shaboodien said: “We have to send a clear message that while Palestine is not free, as what has been said in history by Nelson Mandela, we won’t be free.

“I think the challenge we all sit with starts with us. Because we have witnessed that world leaders turn the other way. We as people of the world must never do that, we must always stand on the path of what is right.”

Israeli forces raided several areas across the West Bank and arrested at least 15 Palestinians on Wednesday. This after an attack in Israel left 14 people dead, including three police officers.