Middle East Monitor / November 29, 2019
South African Minister of Public Enterprises Patricia De Lille yesterday said “there must be an urgent call for concrete action and legislation to comprehensively liberate Palestine”.
Speaking at an event in Pretoria to mark the United Nations International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People, Dr Lille said: “The lack of determined political will has stolen the lives of many Palestinians.”
The minister also reiterated the South African government’s commitment to the Palestinian cause. Frustrated by Israel’s lack of action and will to end its occupation of Palestine, Pretoria has begun the process of downgrading its embassy in Tel Aviv.
“The need for international support for Palestine is now even greater,” said outgoing Palestinian Ambassador to South Africa, Hashem Dajani, in an interview with the Afro-Palestine Newswire Service.
Emboldened by support from US President Donald Trump and a largely silent international community, Dajani explained that Israel has continued its construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Commemorations for the UN International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People were also held in Ghana, Senegal, Zambia, Mali, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe.
In 1977, the UN General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
