The First Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine is held in South Africa this weekend in an historic move that aims to amplify the urgent need to address Israel’s ongoing genocidal actions against Palestinians – especially in Gaza.
Organised by the South African Anti-Apartheid Steering Committee (SAAASC), the conference is held from 10-12 May to reflect a "collective aspiration to mobilise worldwide action aiming to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people", and "to dismantle Israeli apartheid from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea".
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor opened the event:
The three-day conference started this Friday at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg.
The event consists of a number of panel discussions and workshops.
Speakers include Declan Kearney, chairperson of Sinn Fein; Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative; Reverend Munther Isaac from Bethlehem; Ronnie Kasrils, a former South Africa Minister of Intelligence, and others.
“We will not forgive what has happened to Palestinians. The dehumanization of Palestinians. They did not allow Palestinians to bury their loved ones,” Mustafa Barghouti said as the conference began.
Barghouti added what is happening in Palestine is a global injustice against a people.
“What we face is not only apartheid, it’s an evil plan by the settler Israeli system to destroy Palestine. 70% of the Palestinian population has been displaced,” he said.
He has demanded that the world asks where international law and human rights are amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and other global conflicts.
He said Palestinians will not leave their land, surrender, or give up.
Barghouti also thanked South Africa for standing with the oppressed Palestinian people by taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, where Israel stands accused of genocide.
An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians.
Kearney said the solidarity of ordinary people for Palestine across the world is “unprecedented” and South Africa's ICJ case against Israel is “courageous.”
He added that Israel will never defeat the Palestinian spirit of resistance, adding: “We are with the Palestinian people on their long walk to freedom and will never abandon them.”
The conference intends to lay the groundwork for intensifying global mobilisation, organisation and coordination against Israeli apartheid and “develop comprehensive political, legal, public diplomacy, and media strategies aimed at isolating Israel’s regime of oppression,” organisers said in a statement.
It also aims to “support the struggle of the Palestinian people for all their rights, including the right to self-determination, and the right to return.”
“The conference is a testament to the enduring spirit of international solidarity that helped dismantle apartheid in South Africa, and marks the beginning of a renewed, global movement against apartheid in all its forms. We stand at a watershed moment, ready to translate collective indignation into concrete actions for freedom, justice, and equality in Palestine and beyond,” organisers added.
No comments:
Post a Comment