South Africa : The launch of the World Conference against Israeli Apartheid

The activities of the World Conference against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine kicked off in South Africa today, Friday, which will be hosted by the city of Johannesburg during the period from 10 to 12 May this year.

South Africa is hosting this conference, which is considered the first of its kind to shed light on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, illegal Israeli settler colonialism, and other issues.

The three-day conference began at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg and attracts international speakers, including Declan Kearney, a member of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian human rights activist and politician, and Ronnie Kasrils, in addition to more than 200 religious, political and party figures from all over the world. the whole world.

In his speech during the opening session, Barghouti said, “What is happening in Palestine is a global injustice against a people who not only face apartheid, but also face an evil plan by the Israeli settler regime to destroy Palestine.”

Al-Barghouti pointed out that 70% of the Palestinian population was displaced as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since last October 7, while the occupation stripped them of their humanity and did not allow them to bury their dead.

He said that the world must ask where international law and human rights are amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and other global conflicts.

Barghouti stressed that the Palestinians will not leave their land or surrender, thanking South Africa for standing by the oppressed Palestinian people by referring Israel to the International Court of Justice, where the occupation forces are accused of committing genocide crimes.

In turn, Kearney said that the solidarity of ordinary people for Palestine around the world is “unprecedented” and that the International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa against Israel is “courageous.”

He stressed that Israel will never defeat the spirit of Palestinian resistance, adding: “We are with the Palestinian people in their long march towards freedom and we will never abandon them.”

The conference comes in light of the continuation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October, which left about 35,000 Palestinian martyrs, most of them children and women, in addition to wounding about 79,000, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

This conference essentially aims to mobilize the global anti-apartheid movement to hold Israel accountable for the crime of apartheid it committed against the Palestinians, and to work to dismantle Israeli apartheid from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, according to the statement issued by the steering committee of this conference.