Johnathan Paoli
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor has called for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the people of Palestine in Gazi.
Pandor was speaking in Parliament on Tuesday and said that as a country which lived under the rule of apartheid, South Africa must condemn the illegal occupation of Gaza by Israeli military forces.
“The notion of Israel’s right to defend itself through military means has been used erroneously in international law by many and deliberately by others to justify the unlawful use of force by Israel on the people of Gaza and the West Bank,” Pandor said.
The Minister further questioned the complete silence of international justice concerning the Palestinians and said that the International Criminal court should have issued an immediate arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, Israel has never ratified the Rome Statute, and like the US have indicated that they no longer intend to become a party to the treaty and thus have no legal obligations arising from their initial agreement of the statute.
Pandor has also launched a scathing attack on the UN Security Council for not putting an end to the hostilities.
“The security council, due to aggravated politicisation, has not at the very least been able to call for a humanitarian ceasefire,” she said.
The South African government wanted humanitarian corridors to be immediately opened, all civilian hostages to be freed, a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in Gaza and the facilitation of dialogue that would lead to peace and ultimately, a two-state solution, said Pandor.
It has been just over a month since Hamas initiated the recent hostilities, but Pandor maintained that the bombing of women and children by the Israeli Defence Force, was not only out of proportion, but must be condemned in the harshest of terms.
Despite Israel being a signatory of the Geneva Conventions, the state has previously claimed that the Fourth Geneva Convention does not apply de jure to the West Bank and Gaza, because they dispute the fact that these are occupied territories.
The Federation of South African Trade Unions (SAFTU) has also made a clarion call for the Embassy of Israel in South Africa to be shut down.
Saftu spokesperson Trevor Shaku, said that the government must act quickly in cutting ties with the apartheid state.
“The ties with Israel should have been severed decades ago, when it became clear that the Zionist racist regime has no intentions of respecting the right for self-determination of the Palestinian people and their human rights,” Shaku said.
In addition, Shaku said that the union federation was calling on the government to lobby the Southern African Development Community region and the African Union to boycott Israel.
The DA however, following the summary dismissal of its Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia after he made remarks on social media supporting the Palestinian struggle, said it now supports both sides in the conflict.
Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Emma Powell said the party stood in solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who seek a two-state solution.
Powell said that the party rejected any form of “annihilation” and sought the triumph of rational forces, committed to peaceful co-existence, on both sides of this terrible conflict.
“The DA further calls for the creation of safe zones and for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to ensure the expansion of increased aid flows into Gaza, and to allow more civilians to find access to guaranteed safety,” Powell said.
Powell said that the ongoing conflict was not a war between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac, but rather a war between radicalism – which seeks the annihilation of the other side; and rationality – which recognises the inherent right of both Israelis and Palestinians to statehood, sovereignty and security.
DA Leader John Steenhuisen said that the party was a victim of others who sought to misconstrue the DA’s opinion on the conflict for their own political gain.
“Over the past week, the DA’s position on the ongoing war in Gaza has been maliciously mischaracterised as part of a broader effort to exploit this tragic conflict for political gain. Rather than promoting peace, the ANC has deliberately abused and inflamed divisions around the conflict in an attempt to distract from its dismal failures in government,” Steenhuisen said.
Steenhuisen said the DA would continue to agitate for a peaceful resolution to this conflict that culminates in a two-state solution and would pressure the government to refrain from embracing radicalism on any side of the conflict, in order for our country’s foreign policy to reflect its constitutional values.
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