ANC 'stands with the people of occupied Palestine’, calls for peace
The African National Congress (ANC) says it stands with the people of the occupied Palestine territory following the recent escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Over 1 000 people have been killed since Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip, launched an assault on Israeli towns on Saturday and took hundreds of people hostage.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has since met in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Gaza, but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement.
The ruling party has over the years held pickets outside the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria in support of Palestine.
In May 2021, the then deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, led a picket calling on the Israeli government to “take their knees off the Palestinians” or close their embassy in the country.
The governing party wants Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
In a statement released on Sunday, ANC National Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said in a statement the decision by Palestinian communities to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is 'unsurprising'.
"The ANC stands with the people of occupied Palestine as it is clear that the degenerating security situation is directly linked to the unlawful Israeli occupation.
“Israel's policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
“The destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the latest international escalation of violence and conflict in the West Bank. It is yet another instalment of conflict in Israel and occupied Palestine, which has not been met with a credible response by the international community, particularly the United Nations and the International Criminal Court," says Bhengu-Motsiri.
The ruling party has further called on the United Nations resolutions and international law matters to be affirmed.
"The international community can no longer avoid its duty to act.
The ANC supports calls on all sides to seize the opportunity for peace as opposed to violence and for the international community to actively rise on the side of its international resolutions and establish a credible peace process to bring the realisation of a two state solution based on 1967 borders, which also consider a right of return for displaced Palestinians."
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