ANC set to march in solidarity with Palestinian people
ANC secretary-general
Fikile Mbalula has announced that the party will march to the Israeli Embassy
on Friday to express support and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Mbalula briefed the media
on Wednesday following the party’s three-day national executive committee meeting.
The plans for a march come amid an ongoing bombing campaign by the Israel Defense Forces on Gaza.
The siege was sparked by Palestinian militants bursting through Israel's heavily fortified Gaza border, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Shell-shocked Israel has responded with withering air strikes that have killed more than 2,700 people, mainly civilians. It has also imposed a crippling siege on Gaza and deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border in preparation for a full-scale ground offensive.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas while also seeking to rescue the at least 199 hostages taken into Gaza.
On Tuesday night, a strike on a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of people.
US President Joe Biden, on a visit to Israel Wednesday, backed his ally's stance, blaming Palestinian militants for a rocket strike on the hospital that has inflamed anger across the Middle East.
Arab countries blamed Israel, which has rained bombs on Gaza since the bloody October 7 attack by Hamas, and protests erupted in Muslim countries from Egypt to Pakistan while Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah vowed a "day of rage".
Mbalula said the march forms part of a solidarity programme in support of the Palestinian people.
"The NEC expressed profound concerns at the escalation of conflict between Palestine and Israel, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in both countries. The NEC reiterates the long-held position on the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Palestine and Israel by creating two states as a permanent solution premised on the 1967 borders.
“In this regard, the NEC adopted a comprehensive solidarity programme with the people of Palestine to bring about their right to self-determination and push for a genuine resumption of peace talks towards a lasting and just solution.
“We call on the UN Secretary-General to visit Palestine and report to the United Nations General Assembly. Human rights violations must be heard in the International Court of Justice.”
Mbalula added that the party has asked for a meeting with the South African Board of Jewish Deputies to engage on its position.
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"We will work with other civil society, trade unions, faith-based structures and solidarity organisations towards the formation of Anti-Apartheid Movement Against Israel. We support the effort by the government, civil society and ANC structures to mobilize support for the People of Palestine.”
A group of activists known as the South African Anti-Apartheid Steering Committee has already announced plans to hold an international conference next year focusing on the plight of Palestinians and their quest for self-determination.
At a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday, the committee announced the launch of a Global Anti-Apartheid Movement against what it believes to be colonialism and 'apartheid' perpetrated by Israel.
Anti-apartheid activist Frank Chikane will lead the committee.
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