Cape Town - A call for Palestinians’ right to self-defence, even with arms, was reiterated during a recent march on international day of solidarity, Al-Quds Day or International Quds Day, on Friday.
More than 250 people, with mostly young folk at the fore, marched along the well-known protest route commencing at Keizersgracht Street in District Six to Parliament.
Organised by Qibla, the march saw members of the ANC, EFF, Al Jama-ah, Pagad, Cosatu, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and UCT Palestine Solidarity Forum (PSF), among others, take part.
Addressing the crowd, PSC spokesperson Professor Usuf Chikte said: “We must emphasise and not be distracted on the right of Palestinians to rebel against tyranny. International law is grounded on their side for them to resist the terror of the Israeli people together with the settler terror that is opposed to them.
“And we must defend their right to resist with arms if necessary. And this Parliament must give them defensive weapons to resist to ensure that their life, their land, and their liberty and livelihood is ensured.”
What could be done to hold Israel to account, Chikte said, was to continue to call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and to hold Israel to international law.
Present was Qibla founder, anti-apartheid militant fighter Imam Achmad Cassiem, who was one of Robben Island’s youngest political prisoners at the age of 17.
Retired Judge Siraj Desai said the use of the term clashes when describing the conflict was inaccurate, and that there were no two equal parties.
“If you don’t speak out against the repression of the Palestinian people, you have no idea what human rights is all about or you’ve forgotten what human rights is all about.”
Desai called for an international solution which would permit dispossessed Palestinians to return to Palestine.
A few hours later, hundreds of people gathered in Wale and Rose Streets in Bo-Kaap for “Boeka innie Bo-Kaap” for Palestine.
Boeka is colloquially referred to as the fast-breaking dinner and saw people from across religious beliefs gather to share a meal.
Women’s Legal Centre director Seehaam Samaai said the Palestinian struggle for rights resonated with Bo-Kaap's own battle against gentrification and that it was mostly women and children who bore the brunt of social and political injustice, in both Palestine and Bo-Kaap.
She emphasised the need to work together to dismantle patriarchal systems and to teach values of empathy, compassion, and justice.
Guest speaker Mandla Mandela accused the ANC government of hypocrisy. Despite the ANC resolutions expressing Palestinian solidarity, Palestinians required a visa for entry into the country when Israelis did not.
He called for the Israeli national airline, EL AL, flying from OR Tambo International, to revoke flight operational permits.
“And the entire Zionist lobby in South Africa, through their companies (such as K-Way), they do support the Jewish National Fund and it is for us to identify those companies and ensure that we boycott those products. As well as ensuring we also look into what relations and trade our government is doing with apartheid Israel,” he said.
