Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Israeli government’s call for 1.1 million people in Gaza to evacuate will lead to genocide.
The ANC once again pledged its support for Palestine as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate.
The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), which is the ANC’s highest decision-making body in between conferences, is currently meeting in Boksburg.
Ramaphosa and the ANC on Saturday once again cemented their well-known political position on the continuing conflict in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel, sparked by an incursion of Hamas fighters into Israel last Saturday.
Thousands have been killed on both sides since the unprecedented surprise attack.
Ramaphosa, along with the rest of the party’s national executive committee members, wore black, with Palestinian scarves draped around their necks in a bid to show solidarity with Palestine.
ANC members also waved the Palestinian flag in solidarity with Palestine, which the party believes is currently under siege, according to ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe.
Ramaphosa said the ANC sent condolences to both Palestine and Israel for the deaths as infighting continues in the region.
But in the same breath, the president had harsh criticism for Israel, saying the country was viewed by many as an apartheid state that had continued to oppress Palestinian people.
He said the ANC stood with Palestine and its citizens, who have been oppressed for more than 70 years.
Ramaphosa said the ANC found similarities in the history of the ANC and Palestine with South Africa’s history of apartheid.
“We stand here because we are deeply concerned about the atrocities occurring in the Middle East, and we have passed our condolences to the people of Israel just as we are passing condolences to the people of Palestine,” Ramaphosa said.
“We have a full understanding of how the people of Palestine have taken up this issue because they are people who have been under occupation for almost 75 years. They have been waiting and waging a war against a government that has been dubbed an apartheid state.
“As people and an organisation that has struggled against an oppressive regime of apartheid, we pledge solidarity with the Palestinian people. As the ANC, we have always pledged our solidarity, and have always insisted that the only solution, especially with the issues of Palestine, is a two-state solution,” the president said on the sidelines of the ANC’s NEC meeting.
The Israeli government had warned that about 1.1 million people living in parts of Gaza should evacuate the area ahead of what is expected to be a ground invasion by Israel.
Ramaphosa said this call had to be stopped by Israel because of its grave implications for genocide, as Israel has already blocked the many exits from Palestine.
“The worst part is when the Israel government says 1.1 million people must evacuate the northern part of Gaza, having closed all the exit routes. We [do] believe that this is a serious matter of great gravity and concern.
“We have called on the international community to direct the Israel government to withdraw this command of getting people out of the Northern part of Gaza. It will amount to genocide as many people are going to die,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa added that half a million people in Palestine have been displaced.
“We have a concern that this conflict could go beyond the corners of Palestine and engulf the broader region,” Ramaphosa added, going on to say that the government was considering the evacuation of any South Africans in Palestine and Israel.
On Friday, it was confirmed that two South Africans had already died in the conflict.
Ramaphosa said the Palestinians have a justice struggle: “Their human rights are being violated”.
The ANC’s NEC concludes on Monday.
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