POLITICS

SA will not rest until people of Palestine enjoy freedom - Buti Manamela

Deputy minister says he is confident that unity of purpose will eventually bring an end to Israeli apartheid and injustices (March 8)

Deputy Minister Buti Manamela: Israeli Apartheid Week

8 Mar 2015

Programme Director
Comrades
Revolutionaries
Compatriots
Progressive forces
Ladies and gentlemen,

I pass revolutionary greetings to you all on this week that envokes painful and unpleasant images of oppression, pain and sorrow. Synonymous with the South African painful history, today we gather to continue the struggle and we shall not rest or cease to host this week until the evil system has been destroyed.

We shall never rest until the people of Palestine are free.

Last year in November President Jacob Zuma met with President Mahmoud Abbas of The State of Palestine on the occasion of the state visit to South Africa by President Abbas.

This ground breaking visit served to further cement the strong historic ties between the people of South Africa and Palestine. 

In 1994 our nation was born when the values of democracy and freedom triumphed over the evil that was apartheid. Our historic journey to forming a nation that is admired the world over was not easy. It took the selfless sacrifice of countless patriots, many of whom paid the ultimate price, which is death.

We will also never forget the support of the people of Palestine in our darkest hours. The Palestinian people gave us hope for a better future. Hope that we might emerge as a nation and a people free from the oppression of the past. Their hope we still carry today and hope to contribute as people towards their own freedom day.

Today, South Africa is indeed that place. Using the Constitution as our guide we have succeeded in building a nation from the ashes of apartheid. The constitution of which its foundation is from our Bible the Freedom Charter. The ideals our forefathers expressed in the Freedom Charter we live today through our constitution. Together we have built a country that is recognised for its commitment to democracy, equality and freedom for all.

But this vision cannot be achieved without the prosperity of other nations, progressive forces across the world including the people of Palestine.

Ladies and gentlemen  

This year marks 21 years since our historic first steps to freedom and democracy in 1994. I am proud to say that South Africa has achieved much in this time, therefore a better place to live in than it was during Apartheid.

It therefore saddens me that our brothers and sisters in Palestine continue to experience oppression in the land of their birth.  

When President Zuma met with President Mahmoud Abbas in November they agreed that the continuing building of settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, is undermining prospects for a two-state solution as envisaged by the United Nations and the international community. They called for the total cessation of all settlement activities.

Both leaders reaffirmed the desire for a two-state solution where the states of Israel and Palestine will co-exist side by side in peace, within secured borders on the basis of the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Capital of Palestine. 

They also reiterated that the only way to everlasting peace lies in frank and genuine negotiations between Palestinians and the State of Israel with the two-state solution being the ultimate goal.

Programme Director

Let me reiterate, South Africa will not rest until the people of Palestine enjoy the freedom that we do. The eleventh annual commemoration of Israeli Apartheid Week allows the people of South Africa to join in solidarity with events across the world to protest the treatment of the people of Palestine.  

As we near the end of Israeli Apartheid Week, which ends on 8 March, we must ask if we can do more to end the plight of our Palestinian brothers and sisters.

The solidarity we have noticed across the world gives me hope that we are indeed a step closer to the emancipation of the people of Palestine.   

Our combined actions and campaigns are doing much to raise awareness. In South Africa, more than 75 organisations, trade unions, political parties and other groups are at the forefront of raising awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians.

They continue to garner support for the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign, which seeks to bring an end to Israel's apartheid policies and violations of international law.

It would be fair to say that progress has been slow. The Israeli regime just like the apartheid regime before it is obstinate and uncompromising. But apartheid eventually crumbled under the weight of history. The iron will of South Africans eventually triumphed and we remain confident that yearning for freedom of the Palestinian people will prevail in the end.

I therefore call upon all progressive forces to continue to be in solidarity with the people of Palestine, for it was civil society and progressive governments that backed our course that ultimately so the collapse apartheid in our country. I am pleased to see the growth in support within our border of this just cause.

Ladies and gentlemen  

Within this room are the champions who will move the Palestinian cause forward. We must continue to shout from the rafters and point out the injustices of Israeli policy at every turn.

Just as the world rallied to support South Africa in its struggle against Apartheid; we must now give back and support the international movement in solidarity with the indigenous Palestinian people, and their progressive Israeli allies.

Together we can only hope that 2015 is the final year that we must commemorate Israeli Apartheid Week. Together we can ensure that Israel ceases its illegal practices and embraces a two state solution that will bring lasting peace and prosperity for all.

Programme Director

In closing allow me to once again appeal to everyone in this room to continue the fight. Every one of us has a role to play in ending the hardship and injustices that continue to plague the people of Palestine. Lets further mobilise our people behind this cause for international justice to be served.

Friends, this will not be an easy road. There will no doubt be many obstacles and challenges ahead.  But we dare not sit back and assume that there will be change without sacrifice.

For many years apartheid loomed as a seemingly unstoppable behemoth. But apartheid was eventually defeated because good people, the world over united to beat it.

I am confident that our unity of purpose will eventually bring an end to Israeli apartheid and injustices. Together we can change the world. Together we can ensure that our brothers and sisters in Palestine will prevail.

I stand here today with confidence to assure the people of Palestine of our government and its people support until this system is destroyed.

Compatriots, South Africa will not rest until the people of Palestine are free.

I thank you.

Operation Phakisa: www.operationphakisa.gov.za

Issued by The Presidency, March 8 2015

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter