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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2019/10/1/The-Africa-Palestine-Conference-Why-South-Africa-Must-Lead-the-Way">https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2019/10/1/The-Africa-Palestine-Conference-Why-South-Africa-Must-Lead-the-Way</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">The Africa-Palestine Conference: Why
South Africa Must Lead the Way</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Ramzy Baroud - October 1,
2019<br>
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<article id="ltrFullPageDiv"> On September 16, I visited
South Africa, a country where many Palestinians have
always felt welcomed, if not overwhelmed by the degree of
genuine and meaningful solidarity.
<p>
While having the honor to address many audiences in six,
major cities, I have also learned a great deal. An
important and sobering lesson is that while apartheid
laws can be dismissed in a day, economic apartheid and
massive inequality can linger on for many years. Thanks
to my interactions with many South African
intellectuals, activists and ordinary folk, I learned
not to romanticize the South African struggle, a crucial
lesson for those of us fighting to end Israeli apartheid
in Palestine.</p>
<p>
My hosts at the Afro-Middle East Center ensured that I
met with diverse audiences, including top members of the
African National Congress, the leadership of the
country’s two, major union groups, anti-apartheid
scholars and activists, and a large number of students
and other people throughout the country.</p>
<p>
The main, obvious conclusion from all of these meetings
and interactions is that South Africans are serious
about their solidarity with Palestine and that they see
themselves as partners in the Palestinian struggle for
justice and peace.</p>
<p>
While South Africans are always ready to take their
solidarity with Palestine to a whole new level, however,
there is a general feeling that decisive political moves
can prove costly for South Africa.</p>
<p>
True, the South African government has taken several
steps in the right direction. On May 14, 2018, Pretoria
recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, to
protest the killing of hundreds of unarmed protesters
taking part in the Great March of Return in besieged
Gaza. On April 5, 2019, it began to actively downgrade
its ties with Israel, in response to a call made by the
ANC leadership itself.</p>
<p>
While these steps are significant, South Africa is yet
to take the kind of action that, when combined with
others measures of international solidarity, could
finally force Israel to dismantle its system of
Apartheid in Palestine.</p>
<p>
The problem is not the lack of willingness nor that of
diplomatic doublespeak. There is a growing and
justifiable, sense that Arab governments no longer see
the liberation of Palestine as a common objective. While
the Arab peoples remain committed in their support of
Palestinians, Arab governments have fallen into warring
camps and political divisions.</p>
<p>
Yet, a top ANC leader told me that South Africa’s policy
regarding Palestine is guided by the agendas of the Arab
League and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Sadly, neither the Arab League nor the PLO are serving
the roles they were entrusted with decades ago. The
former is marred in divisions, and the latter has been
effectively replaced by the provisional, factional
Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.</p>
<p>
Using ineffectual organizations as a legal and moral
frame of reference is hurting South Africa’s chances of
converting its solidarity with Palestine into tangible
political assets.</p>
<p>
The other dilemma is that the African continent itself
is no longer united regarding Palestine. Israel has
successively driven a wedge between African countries,
which, at one point, were united in their unconditional
support of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli
military occupation and Apartheid.</p>
<p>
Israel’s successes in Africa, especially through the
penetration of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), have made Tel Aviv a political player
on the African continent. Boosted by the welcome he
received from various African leaders, Israeli Prime
Minister Netanyahu had hoped to hold the Israel-Africa
Summit in October 2017. Thanks to the efforts of African
countries like South Africa and Algeria, the conference
was postponed.</p>
<p>
If Israel continues to score political victories while
facing little resistance, however, it will eventually
dominate the African continent. The absurdity of this
matter goes beyond the struggle in Palestine. A
continent that was ravaged by colonialism, racism, and
apartheid should not embrace the likes of Israel, the
exemplification of the very ills that have cost Africa
so dearly for hundreds of years.</p>
<p>
In fact, the issue of solidarity with Palestine, and the
pressing need to block Israel’s scourges in Africa are
intrinsically linked. In this very link, South Africa
can find a way to reclaim its natural role as a vanguard
against racism and apartheid everywhere.</p>
<p>
My suggestion to the ANC is that South Africa should
update its frame of reference, moving away from tired
clichés of a defunct, two-state solution and such, to a
whole new way of thinking. And it should not go about
doing it alone; all of Africa and all Palestinians
should be part of this effort.</p>
<p>
I strongly believe that South Africa is ready to counter
Israel’s efforts on the continent by initiating an
Africa-Palestine Conference, a major gathering that aims
to harness all the solidarity for the Palestinian people
throughout all African countries.</p>
<p>
Whether the conference is held under the auspices of the
African Union (AU) or independently, the gathering of
like-minded African and Palestinian leaders,
parliamentarians, scholars and civil society leaders can
develop a new frame of reference, which South Africa,
the African continent, and, in fact, the rest of the
world can use as a guiding principle of new thinking on
Palestine. Based on the call made by Palestinian civil
society in 2005 to boycott Israel, the Palestinian
people have been demanding and expecting this new
thinking for at least 15 years.</p>
<p>
Those who might find the idea that Africa can lead the
way on forming a new, global understanding on Palestine
far-fetched, need to remember that it was the
Organization of African Unity’s resolution 77 (XII) of
August 1975 that recognized and condemned the “organic
link” between “the racist regime in occupied Palestine
and the racist regime in Zimbabwe and South Africa”.
That very resolution served as a major frame of
reference used in UN Resolution 3379 of November 1975
that determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and
racial discrimination”.</p>
<p>
Africa must reclaim its position as a global leader in
the fight against racism and apartheid, and South Africa
is very qualified to spearhead these efforts, because,
after all, as iconic South African leader Nelson Mandela
once said, “We all know too well that our freedom is
incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.</p>
<p>
<em>- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of
Palestine Chronicle. He has authored a number of books
on the Palestinian struggle including ‘The Last Earth:
A Palestinian Story’. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine
Studies from the University of Exeter and is a
Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and
International Studies, University of California Santa
Barbara.</em></p>
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