APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri has described Israel as “a blatant apartheid state” that systematically discriminates against Palestinians in its occupied territories.
Responding to the current tension between Israel and Palestine, Bhengu-Motsiri said the Israeli authorities have “dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated and subjugated Palestinians by their identity to varying degrees of intensity.”
Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC stood with the people of occupied Palestine as it was clear the degenerating security situation was 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 spokesperson said.
Citing the Fourth Geneva Convention, she said “the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
“It can no longer be disputed apartheid South Africa’s history is occupied Palestine’s reality. As a result, the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising.”
Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC stood with the people of occupied Palestine as it was clear the degenerating security situation was directly linked to the unlawful Israeli occupation.
Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravened fundamental rules of international humanitarian law, she added.
Over the weekend, the militant group Hamas launched ferocious attacks using rockets, boats and vehicles into Israeli territory that left several hundreds of people dead in a well-planned invasion that caught the authorities napping.
Israel continues to retaliate with indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip, the home base of Hamas, with deadly US military jets that have left thousands of dead and injured Palestinians.
NM/jn/APA