FAMILIES OF SOUTH AFRICAN ICONS BACK ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
Pretoria, 11 Jumadal Awwal 1436/2 March 2015 (MINA)– The children and grandchildren of South African anti-apartheid icons endorsed on Sunday the 11th international Israeli Apartheid Week and urged citizens to join the campaign.
“As we launch Israel Apartheid week, we wish to remind South Africans of where we have come from, a time where the government separated and oppressed people based on nothing else except how they were born ” Shaka, grandson of anti-apartheid stalwarts Walter and Albertina Sisulu, told a press conference in Johannesburg.
“We wish to evoke the spirit of Walter Sisulu and his comrades who strove for a just peaceful society, a democratic South Africa,” he said, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Shaka urged South Africans to stand for justice, peace and fairness by joining the Israel Apartheid week in honor and remembrance of South Africa’s forebears and liberation heroes.
He quoted former national struggle hero Nelson Mandela’s famous phrase: “We know all too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
The international Israel Apartheid week features a number of events aimed at raising awareness about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and crimes against the Palestinian people.
It also serves to garner support for the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
In South Africa, the annual event has been endorsed by more than 85 organizations, including trade unions and political parties.
In 1948, some 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes – or were forcibly expelled by Jewish forces – after the creation of the new state of Israel, while hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns were razed to the ground.
Since its establishment, Israel has continued to misappropriate Palestinian land in the West Bank – on which it continues to build Jewish-only settlements – in breach of international law.
Palestinians, for their part, demand the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with Jerusalem – currently occupied by Israel – as its capital.
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Aaliyah, the niece of liberation hero Ahmed Kathrada, criticized Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
“I endorse the Israeli Apartheid week to ensure a better future for Palestinian children, so that they too can live safely and freely as we the children of post-apartheid South Africa do,” she said.
Roshan Dadoo, the daughter of former South African anti-apartheid hero Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, agreed.
“We don’t use the word apartheid lightly, carelessly or indeed maliciously,” she said.
“We use it because the state of Israel based on canny likeness to the apartheid state of South Africa between 1948 and 1994,” she added.
She quoted Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who said in March 2014 that Israeli policies bore “unacceptable characteristics of colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
Dadoo urged all South Africans, regardless of religion or race, to unite and support the Israeli Apartheid week.
Johan Naude, the son of Dr. Reverend Beyers Naude, a white South African who fought against apartheid, saluted brave Jews and Israelis who oppose “the Israeli apartheid regime.”
Obakeng Chikane, the son of Reverend Frank Chikane, another anti-apartheid struggle stalwart, said holding the press conference at the historic Liliesleaf Farm north of Johannesburg – where many prominent anti-apartheid leaders were arrested – was symbolic.
“Liliesleaf farm was chosen for the launch of today’s Israeli Apartheid Week to remind people of our past and for the freedoms that we fought for,” he said.
“Today we salute the Palestinian people and the Israeli allies for their resistance to end the struggle against Israeli apartheid,” added Chikane. (T/P010/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
