South Africa calls for Israel to be declared an ‘apartheid state’

The South African government has remained a strong ally of Palestine, providing both material and public support for its liberation cause. The South African government has expressed concerns that Israel’s continued occupation of “significant portions of the West Bank” and the development of new settlements there “are glaring examples of violations of international law” as the longrunning Israel-Palestine conflict goes on. “The Palestinian narrative evokes experiences of South Africa’s own history of racial segregation and oppression,” Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, said at the second meeting of the Palestinian Heads of Mission in Africa, held in the capital Pretoria. Global campaign for Shireen Pandor was the first representative of the South African government to denounce the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May by Israeli forces during a raid in the West Bank. After Tuesday’s conference session, she told SABC that “we can’t leave the matter of Shireen Abu Akleh untouched.” “We will push the Palestinian cause at the UN General Assembly and we need also civil society to join us,” said Pandor.