Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
13 May 2023 | 15:24 CAT

Image: Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Every year on May 15th, millions of Palestinians worldwide commemorate the Nakba and the catastrophe that befell them in 1948. This catastrophe resulted in the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs and their society amid the creation of the State of Israel. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign holds a rally in Cape Town to commemorate the event.

One of the speakers, Khalid Sayed, speaks to Radio Islam International on the objective to be achieved. He said The Nakba event closely resembles what happened in South Africa during the apartheid years, which is primarily the theme for the campaign to draw parallels with the South African experience.

The event will take place in the castle, which was at one stage a capital ambitioned of oppression of South Africans. Jan Van Riebeek and the British were now stationed at the castle, a free space.

According to Sayed, while the event reminds us of our duty to fight for a free Palestine, it also puts forward demands.

The Deputy Minister of National Relations, Eldwin Botas, will be the keynote speaker at the event. Sayed said in addition to his speaking and re-emphasising the South African government’s support for the Palestinian struggle. It is also an opportunity for the Deputy Minister to listen to the voices of Civil Society.

“One of the clear demands that will put forth is that all South Africans who are currently fighting in the criminal Israeli defence force, ought to be arrested in South Africa and it ought to be illegal for South African citizens to form part of the defence force of the Zionist State of Israel,” he says.

The Nakba indicates that the Zionist State of Israel directly implicates the Western powers and is a result of the Balfour declaration that occurred, which was driven and directed by the British, says Sayed.

“The Nakba is a reminder that of the complicity of the Western powers in ensuring that the State of Israel could be created in the first place, and that Palestinians were to be kicked off of their land and to be taken out of their homes,” says Sayed.

Listen to the full interview with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie on Your World Today.