By Umamah Bakharia

On the 74th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), South Africa held marches both in Cape Town and Johannesburg to highlight the suffering of the people of Palestine by an oppressive apartheid Israel.

Over this period, Israeli forces have carried out forced removals, land invasion’s and extra-judicial killing of Palestinians. Over the past week, the world has witnessed the brutal murder of Al-Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh that has showed the reality of Palestinians trying to show the world the reality on the ground.

Palestinians have been calling for the recognition of the recognition of Israel’s apartheid ruling for decades.

The South African BDS Coalition handed over a memorandum to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), in which they called on the South African government and its regional actors to:

• Recognize Israel as an apartheid state.
• Ratify the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
• Ensure that South African legal and institutional frameworks are developed and implemented to enable the effective investigation and prosecution of perpetrators including their collaborators in South Africa who aid and abet the crime against humanity of apartheid and consequently prosecute South Africans serving in the IDF under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.
• Support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement by breaking ties – diplomatic, trade, sporting, cultural and academic – with the Apartheid State of Israel and develop a formative policy on BDS.
• Declare Palestinians visa-free entry.
• Work towards the removal of Israeli accreditation at the AU in contravention of the Constitutive Act of the AU and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
• Work towards a UN resolution on Israeli apartheid calling for international sanctions and an arms embargo.
• Condemn Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians and speak out against its cruel system of domination and crimes against humanity.

The memorandum was received and signed for consideration by Dirco representative, Zane Dangor.