Johannesburg- The activities of the World Conference against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine, hosted by South Africa from 10 to 12 May, concluded yesterday, Sunday.
The conference issued a statement signed by delegates from 20 countries, of all religious beliefs, and of various political and ideological views, and they all pledged to work for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip, lift the siege on it and withdraw Israeli forces, as well as end settler terrorism. .
The statement stated that this first World Conference against Apartheid for Palestine began a process of widespread mobilization around the world to escalate Palestinian solidarity and build an anti-apartheid movement.
The statement called on “all solidarity movements around the world to join this effort to build a global movement that stands with all oppressed people.”
Commitment and procedures
The signatories of the statement said that “we are committed to isolating Israeli apartheid by intensifying the economic, academic, sporting, artistic and cultural boycott, and escalating the campaign to impose economic and financial sanctions” on Israel.
The statement laid out plans to activate these measures by “closing shipping routes, campaigning to impose an arms embargo against Israel, targeting those who support, finance, supply weapons or join the Israeli occupation forces, and expel Israel from international sporting, cultural and academic bodies.”
In the press conference held at the end of the events, conference president Frank Chikane said that holding the apartheid conference in Palestine came “based on our visit to Palestine and our testimony to the pain and suffering that people suffer there. I have never seen anything like that in the world,” as he put it.
“I’ve never seen anything like it”
The conference president added that the Israeli soldiers are protecting the settlers as they beat the Palestinians, kill them, demolish and destroy homes, and the world does nothing. “Therefore, we held this conference in order to mobilize the world against apartheid at the global level, to help and support us in this struggle,” and this mobilization is inspired by our experience. In South Africa.
In a question to Tel Aviv Tribune Net about the role that the Palestinians should play in the next stage, Shikani said that the Palestinians were consulted to prepare for this conference, and interaction with them will continue.
He added, “But we cannot dictate what they do, and I believe that the Palestinians know what they want to do and will do what is required of them. We are there to support, and this is our responsibility at this stage. The Palestinians are in the fire and we are out of it, and we need to be able to Support them as much as possible.”
He pointed out in his answer that there are programs that are not appropriate to disclose currently, and what is important is to reach a stage in which killing, occupation and genocide can be stopped, after which the Palestinians are left to exercise their right to self-determination.
Addition of quality
Regarding the importance of this conference, a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Basem Naim, said that holding this conference in South Africa, which has long experience in combating the apartheid regime, and in the presence of these multiple international competencies from all countries who have gathered for the same goal and purpose, represents A qualitative addition to our struggle at this stage after last October 7.
Naim added – in an exclusive interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net to be published later – that “a new movement was launched today to confront the Zionist enemy in the most important area, which is the international protection and support that the occupation has enjoyed over many decades,” and therefore it was necessary to launch this movement to combat apartheid. Isolating this entity, prosecuting war criminals, and finally working to end this occupation.
In exclusive statements to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, Declan Kearney, head of the Sinn Féin party in Northern Ireland, said that this conference should be considered a complement to the “very courageous” legal action taken by the South African government in The Hague through the International Court of Justice, and there must be a set of strategies. task at this time.
Kearney added that the conference represents a watershed moment, and it is necessary for many international initiatives to be coordinated together to ensure that global pressure is maximized on the Israeli government to reach an absolute, complete and unconditional ceasefire, and to ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the West Bank.
It is noteworthy that the conference included a number of sessions and workshops, some of which were public and others closed, over a period of 3 days, all of which discussed means to create a global movement against apartheid in all parts of the world, and at the forefront of that is what Israel practices against the Palestinian people, and the aggression against Gaza is at the heart of these discussions, whether in official or private sessions.