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Protests about Gaza
Jan. 9th, 2009 10:46 amFury about Gaza spills on to SA streets
South Africa should cut ties with Israel and prosecute citizens who serve in the Israeli armed forces, say the leaders of Muslim groups who helped organise a protest march by about 15 000 people in central Cape Town on Thursday.
They also called on Israel to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been engaged in a ground offensive since Saturday night.
A Cosatu official called for a boycott of Israeli products and businesses.
The calls came as two leading Jewish bodies appealed to South Africans to ensure the "conflict in the Middle East is not imported into South Africa and allowed to disrupt the excellent relationships" between Jewish and Muslim communities.
The march was arranged by, among others, the Muslim Judicial Council, Qibla, Islamic Unity Convention, Building Women's Activism, Anti-War Coalition, and Workers International Vanguard League and supported by a number of political parties and Cosatu.
"What is happening in Gaza is not a war - it is a full-scale military attack by an occupying power which has the fourth-most powerful army in the world, against an occupied people who - consistent with their right under international law - are resisting occupation with primitive weapons," the organisations said in a memorandum handed to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sue van der Merwe. They demanded that the Israeli ambassador be expelled and South Africa's recalled.
The government's call for a cessation of hostilities was not enough, the organisers said.
Van der Merwe said the protest was testimony to how serious South Africans were about the Gaza conflict. She undertook to give the memo to Foreign Affairs Minster Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The ANC's provincial secretary, Sipho Kroma, Cope's Leonard Ramatlakane, Soraya Jawodien of Cosatu, and the ANC Women's League representatives were among those who expressed support for the Palestinian cause.
Jawodien called for a boycott of Israeli products, while Anti-War Coalition leader Shaheed Mohamed appealed for an international strike.
Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils said in the run-up to the election, people should question parties about their attitudes to the Palestinian crisis.
South Africa should cut ties with Israel and prosecute citizens who serve in the Israeli armed forces, say the leaders of Muslim groups who helped organise a protest march by about 15 000 people in central Cape Town on Thursday.
They also called on Israel to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been engaged in a ground offensive since Saturday night.
A Cosatu official called for a boycott of Israeli products and businesses.
The calls came as two leading Jewish bodies appealed to South Africans to ensure the "conflict in the Middle East is not imported into South Africa and allowed to disrupt the excellent relationships" between Jewish and Muslim communities.
The march was arranged by, among others, the Muslim Judicial Council, Qibla, Islamic Unity Convention, Building Women's Activism, Anti-War Coalition, and Workers International Vanguard League and supported by a number of political parties and Cosatu.
"What is happening in Gaza is not a war - it is a full-scale military attack by an occupying power which has the fourth-most powerful army in the world, against an occupied people who - consistent with their right under international law - are resisting occupation with primitive weapons," the organisations said in a memorandum handed to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sue van der Merwe. They demanded that the Israeli ambassador be expelled and South Africa's recalled.
The government's call for a cessation of hostilities was not enough, the organisers said.
Van der Merwe said the protest was testimony to how serious South Africans were about the Gaza conflict. She undertook to give the memo to Foreign Affairs Minster Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The ANC's provincial secretary, Sipho Kroma, Cope's Leonard Ramatlakane, Soraya Jawodien of Cosatu, and the ANC Women's League representatives were among those who expressed support for the Palestinian cause.
Jawodien called for a boycott of Israeli products, while Anti-War Coalition leader Shaheed Mohamed appealed for an international strike.
Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils said in the run-up to the election, people should question parties about their attitudes to the Palestinian crisis.
