Even during the days of negotiations, our own experience taught us that the pursuit of human fraternity and equality - irrespective of race or religion - should stand at the centre of our peaceful endeavours. The choice is not between freedom and justice, on the one hand, and their opposite, on the other. Peace and prosperity; tranquility and security are only possible if these are enjoyed by all without discrimination.
It is in this spirit that I have come to join you today to add our own voice to the universal call for Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
Mr. Aziz Pahad, the South African Deputy Foreign Minister, and Mr. Kgalema Motlanthe, the Deputy President of the African National Congress (ANC), met with Palestinian human rights activists on 6 June 2008 in South Africa. The South Africans officials had recently returned from a visit to the 1967 Occupied PalestinianTerritory. In the meeting with Arab Political Leaders and Adalah representatives Mr. Pahad and Mr. Motlanthe stressed the South African government's support for the Palestinian people. Mr. Motlanthe stated that in his view "the current situation for Palestinians in the OPT is worse than conditions were for Blacks under the Apartheid regime."
Here
is what other prominent South Africans have to say about the issue of Israel
and Apartheid:
"I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"Israel came to resemble more and more Apartheid South Africa at its zenith - even surpassing its brutality, house demolitions, removal of communities, targeted assassinations, massacres, imprisonment and torture of its opponents, collective punishment and the aggression against neighbouring states."
- Former South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils from a speech at Israel Apartheid Week 2009.
"But what is interesting is that every black South African that I've spoken to who has visited the Palestinian territory has been horrified and has said without hesitation that the system that applies in Palestine is worse."
- Professor John Dugard, Former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.
"Apartheid Israel can be defeated, just as Apartheid in South Africa was defeated."
- Winnie Mandela
"When I come here and see the situation [in the Palestinian territories], I find that what is happening here is ten times worse than what I had experienced in South Africa. This is Apartheid."
- Arun Ghandi
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