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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">South Africa ambassador rejects gift
from Israel, condemns “replication of apartheid”</h1>
<div class="submitted"> <span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2013-06-19T14:11:10+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username" xml:lang=""
about="/users/ali-abunimah" typeof="sioc:UserAccount"
property="foaf:name" datatype="">Ali Abunimah</span> on Wed, 06/19/2013<br>
<small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/south-africa-ambassador-rejects-gift-israel-condemns-replication-apartheid">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/south-africa-ambassador-rejects-gift-israel-condemns-replication-apartheid</a></small></small><br>
</span> </div>
<div class="field-body">
<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/south-africa">South
Africa</a>’s former ambassador in Tel Aviv has publicly rejected a gift
from the Israeli government, of 18 trees planted in his name by the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jnf">Jewish National Fund
(JNF)</a>, on land violently expropriated from its Palestinian owners.</p>
<p>Ismail Coovadia, a former anti-apartheid activist, and a member of
the ruling <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/african-national-congress-anc">African
National Congress</a>, was presented with a JNF certificate, signed by
Rafael Barak, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry,
informing him that the trees had been planted in his “honor.”</p>
<p>Coovadia was appalled at the move and, <a
href="http://www.bdssouthafrica.com/2011/06/letter-from-south-african-ambassador-to.html">in
a letter</a> posted by <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds-south-africa">BDS South
Africa</a>, explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have recently completed serving my term as the fifth Ambassador
of democratic, non-racial South Africa to the State of Israel.</p>
<p>The racist actions of the Israeli parastatal, the Jewish National
Fund, together with various other Israeli state institutions to
forcibly remove the Palestinians and Bedouins from their legitimate
homes is yet another repeat of the ongoing injustice meted out by the
Israeli Defence Forces, etc…</p>
<p>I have had the opportunity to visit both, the “South Africa
Forest” and the “Ambassador’s Forest” in Israel where trees are
reportedly planted in the name of South Africa. In regard to the latter
case, my queries, to the Israeli Foreign Ministry officials, have gone
unanswered for over a year.</p>
<p>Regrettably, my permission was not sought to plant a tree/s in my
or the name of a South African Ambassador on usurped land, the rightful
land of the Palestinians and Bedouins. I reserve the right to the usage
of my name with or without my permission.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>“Replication of apartheid”</h2>
<p>The JNF has <a
href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/03/11/erasing-links-land-negev">planted
the so-called “Ambassador’s Forest,” on land violently seized</a> from
the <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bedouins">Bedouin</a>
village of <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-araqib">al-Araqib</a>.</p>
<p>This area in the southern Naqab region is at the heart of the
Bedouin to struggle to stay on their land in the face of <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/mass-demolition-israel-ethnically-cleanses-naqab-desert">imminent
plans for further mass expulsions by the Israeli government</a> to make
way for even more Jewish colonization.</p>
<p>Coovadia wrote that the Israeli acts he had seen while in his post
amounted to a “replication of apartheid,” the system of violent racial
segregation that was abolished in South Africa in 1994.</p>
<p>The JNF certificate “is nothing less than an offence to my dignity
and integrity,” Coovadia wrote. “I was not a party to, and never will
be, to the planting of ‘18 trees’, in my ‘honor,’ on expropriated and
stolen land.”</p>
<p>The ambassador added that he would be returning the certificate and
requesting that the trees be removed.</p>
<p>Coovadia’s letter revealing the gift was addressed to Mark Kaplan
and Heidi Grunebaum, makers of the recent documentary <em>Village
Under the Forest</em>, which explores the role of the JNF in planting
the so-called “South Africa Forest” over the Israeli-destroyed
Palestinian village of Lubya.
</p>
<p>The JNF, which has fundraising branches in many countries, has been
the target of a growing campaign over its involvement in Israel’s land
theft from Palestinians.</p>
<p>In response to a formal complaint from the advocacy group <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/stop-jnf">Stop the JNF</a>,
the UK’s Charity Commission recently <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/jewish-national-fund-uk-faces-official-questions-over-racial-discrimination">began
an inquiry into the JNF’s involvement in racist activities</a>.</p>
</div>
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