“The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa because we also were surrounded by many settlements and were not allowed to move from one place to another freely.
Palestinians are being subjected to the worst version of apartheid.”
Image by Latuff
MANDELA’S GRANDSON ON VISIT: ‘ISRAEL IS THE WORST APARTHEID REGIME’
“The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa…”
The grandson of the late anti-apartheid hero, former South African president Nelson Mandela, is on a “historic visit” to Israel though it seems he will not meet with Israeli officials.
A statement said Mandla Mandela, a staunch Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) supporter and member of parliament, would “hold several meetings with Palestinian leaders” but made no mention of Israeli counterparts. The Foreign Ministry appeared to corroborate the statement by saying, “We have no information on the visit.”
During a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday, Mandela said: “The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa because we also were surrounded by many settlements and were not allowed to move from one place to another freely.
Palestinians are being subjected to the worst version of apartheid.”
He added: “Israel is the worst apartheid regime” and called for the continued support of BDS and for South Africa to cut all ties with “apartheid Israel.”
While meeting with Mandela in Ramallah, Hamdallah highlighted the inspiring legacy of the younger Mandela’s late grandfather.
He also stressed the strength of bilateral ties between the Palestinian Authority and South Africa and the historic relationship formed between the late presidents Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela. He also praised South Africa’s position in supporting the Palestinian people and championing their cause in the international arena.
Hamdallah briefed the South African MP on Israel’s so-called “violations against the Palestinians, including settlement expansion and displacement projects that constitute a major obstacle to realizing the dream of establishing a Palestinian state.”
The two politicians also discussed ways to strengthen their cooperation and advance bilateral relations.
“What we have experienced in South Africa is a fraction of what the Palestinians are experiencing,” Mandela said in an interview with Royal News English on Sunday. “We were oppressed in order to serve the white minority. The Palestinians are being eliminated off their land and brought out of their territories, and this is a total human-rights violations. I think it is a total disgrace that the world is able to sit back while such atrocities are being carried out by apartheid Israel.”
Mandela is scheduled to meet with 83-year-old PA President Mahmoud Abbas as well as with other Palestinian officials during his visit. He also will visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Arafat’s mausoleum Arafat in Ramallah.
Close to the mausoleum is a six-meter high, bronze statue of Nelson Mandela, who is famous among Palestinians for saying: “We know all too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
People cheer in front of a Mandela statue during the inauguration of Nelson Mandela Square in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Mandela will be in the country until Wednesday.
Prior to the four-day visit, he met with Palestinian leader and BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti in Amman.
In the past, Mandela has made several calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to South Africa and has continuously supported the cutting of ties between the two countries.
In August, he applauded the South Africa parliament’s decision to shun a delegation of Israeli MKs who were visiting the country.
During an anti-Israel march in July, he demanded “that all ties be cut with Israel… no trade ties, no cultural ties and no travel! We demand that Israel complies with International law and demand the return of six million Palestinian refugees driven from the land of their birth. We demand that all occupied land be returned, and we condemn the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.”
He continued: “Today, we stand to salute the brave and fearless Palestinian people who are facing the brutal might of the Israeli Army to defend al-Aksa with their bare hands. We demand that all occupied land be returned. Madiba [Nelson Mandela’s clan name] reminded us that our freedom is incomplete until Palestine is free.”
Although Nelson Mandela was critical of “the occupation,” he fully supported Israel’s right to exist.
Desertpeace 
euhuguenin said,
November 30, 2017 at 16:47
I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning!!
And a short memo the US government; the American people have gotten sick and tired of US aid, both financial and military, “never being enough” for this wretchedly apartheid, self-declared theocracy with nuclear weapons which is what Israel has become in the 21st century.
As you are aware (or should be aware) all aid to Israel is completely illegal under the Symington Amendment, which prohibits any aid from going to a nuclear armed country which refuses to become signatory to the NNPT, and refuses to have its nuclear facilities inspected.
Israel comes in at a big fat zero-compliance on both issues, so what is the deal here, please?!?
The victim card has been played once too often by an Israeli government which spits in the face of US officials, and tells them it’s raining.
And did I mention serial genocide against the Palestinians, coupled with brisk annexations of property in the West Bank and East Jerusalem? The Israeli government will not listen to anything approaching a two state solution; it wants territory, and to get rid of as many Palestinians as it thinks it can, and by any means necessary.
It is high time for all US aid, both military and financial, to stop now, because this is the only language the Israeli government understands.
No more wars for the crap hole state of Israel. And, that is PRECISELY what this greasy neocon obsession to drag the US military into Syria is all about.
No more wars FOR ISRAEL. Instead, let’s wage war ON ISRAEL and wipe these evil snakes off the face of the planet.
@honestcharlie said,
November 30, 2017 at 17:23
Reblogged this on THE ABSURD TIMES — STILL.
FRIDAY APPAF Newsletter 12-01-2017 | APPAF said,
December 1, 2017 at 01:08
[…] DESERTPEACE: IT’S OFFICIAL ~~ ‘ISRAEL IS THE WORST APARTHEID REGIME EVER’ […]
Laskarina said,
December 1, 2017 at 20:55
@ euhuguenin: Agreed!
Maurice said,
December 3, 2017 at 19:46
Expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people are particularly potent when coming from South Africans having defeated apartheid. Years ago, I was in a miniscule protest (6 people) in front of the South African consulate in my city. At that time many Canadian politicians considered Mandela to be a terrorist and felt that he should be in jail. Prospects of South African apartheid ever disappearing seemed pretty slim then. It is good to remember this when we challenge Israeli apartheid.
APPAF Newsletter 12-04-2017 | APPAF said,
December 4, 2017 at 00:10
[…] From Israel : DESERTPEACE: IT’S OFFICIAL ‘ISRAEL IS THE WORST APARTHEID REGIME EVER’. “The settlements I… […]