By Neelam Rahim

During the discussion with Radio Islam International, Hafez Ebrahim Moosa says this week, another senior South African Official called Israel an apartheid State and told the world to hold Israel responsible for its violations against the Palestinians.

According to Hafez Ebrahim, this call has come from International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor. She addressed the Palestinian Heads of Mission at an African conference in Pretoria. In addition to giving the South African characterisation of the actions of the State of Israel, she also said that the UN general assembly should investigate whether Israeli occupation can be labelled as apartheid.

He says Miloon Kothari from the United Nations Commission of Enquiry has mentioned Israel has already gone well beyond that road. Apartheid is one way of describing a facet of Israeli crimes, but in no way does it explain the project as a whole. There are many more dimensions and levels to Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestinians that go beyond just apartheid.

Palestinian schools are targeted for closure.

According to Hafez Ebrahim, the Israeli occupation authorities took away the licences to operate six Palestinian schools in Al-Quds last Thursday. The basis that these schools have textbooks in them that they claim incite against the State of Israel and the Israeli army.

He says they did say these schools could continue operating on a temporary licence. Still, they would review the situation in about a year, provided that the curriculum with some elements that tell the Palestinian narrative will be amended this year.

At stake is the education of approximately two thousand Palestinian students who attend these schools in the City of Al-Quds. Education is very much part of the battleground for the identity of Al-Quds. The response to the latest decision, an official at the Palestinian Ministry of Education said that this revocation of their licences is part of a drive to compel Palestinian students in Al-Quds to move to schools that teach the Israeli curriculum. And many of these schools have been built in recent years by the Israeli government. She said the danger of the Israeli or distorted Palestinian curriculum lies in its falsification of history. He added that it attempts to eliminate the national awareness of the children of Al-Quds and create a sense of inferiority within them.

Hamas seeks to restore ties with the Syrian regime.

Hafez Ebrahim tells Radio Islam; that these were ties broken off almost ten years ago. The reason put forward by Hams is that they feel many years have passed. There have been changes in the Syrian situation, and a new alliance has been formed in the Middle East in the name of normalisation with the State of Israel. He added that they feel the time is now ripe to reconsider the decision ten years ago.

Listen to the full Palestine Report on Radio Islam’s podcast below.