Durban - SOUTH AFRICAN organisations have joined the voices of condemnation against the Israeli army’s attack on Palestinian worshippers praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Friday.
They have also voiced concern over the Israeli government’s planned evictions of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of the city.
Hundreds of worshippers had gathered at the mosque for prayer during the final week of Ramadaan when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
The fast is expected to conclude on Thursday or Friday with the celebration of Eid.
The Afro-Palestine Newswire Service reported that after the prayer some worshippers began chanting in support of residents from Sheikh Jarrah.
It reported that Israeli police responded by using sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets to violently disperse crowds, which included women and children.
When people retreated to the mosque, it is alleged that Israeli police entered and attempted to clear the area.
The Afro-Palestine Newswire Service said videos showed grenades being thrown at worshippers while they prayed.
It further reported that several areas within the mosque were tear-gassed while people were trapped inside. "Many hid inside the mosque, where they remained trapped for hours as Israeli police cut electricity lines to force them to evacuate."
BBC News reported that at least 163 Palestinians and six Israeli police officers were hurt during the clashes.
Dr Faisal Suleman, from the South African Muslim Network (Samnet), said the attack is part of a regular process of undermining Palestinians and evicting them from their homes.
"It is part of the ethnic cleansing that Israel is carrying out in Palestine so that it can use up the entire Jerusalem. The main aim here is to break the spirit of the Palestinians so that they eventually all leave.
"Israel has made it clear that it wishes to make the whole area a Zionist state. It is more so horrific because it is an attack on worshippers who are fasting and praying during the holy month of Ramadaan."
Suleman said now that Israel has fostered good relationships with other Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE it is now more embolden to carry out these policies because it is now no more concerned about the resistance and retaliation from the other surrounding Arab countries.
Moulana Yusuf Patel, the secretary-general for the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA), said attacking people with rubber bullets and sound grenades inside the precincts of the Al-Aqsa mosque, while they were praying, is clearly an act of terror and indicative of a depraved mindset.
"The defilement of the mosque, the indiscriminate attack on women and children has become characteristic of occupier and settler mentality. The eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah district is both inhumane and tyrannical which flies in the face of the UN resolutions and international law."
Patel said the illegal expansion of settlements, confiscation of land, and the demolishing of homes is a grim reminder of how the apartheid apparatus tried to crush the indomitable spirit of the oppressed masses.
"Israel will do well to learn from the disastrous apartheid policies that led to the eventual collapse of the South African apartheid regime. History has shown that oppression cannot continue unabated."
William Shoki, a member of the SA Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Coalition, a pro-Palestinian group, said the barbaric actions taking place in Jerusalem is an escalation of the ethnic cleansing and destruction of homes and villages that Palestinians have suffered since 1948.
"How many more atrocities must the Palestinian people suffer before South Africa raises its voice loudly against Israeli apartheid brutality, expels the Israeli ambassador, breaks off diplomatic ties with Israel, and imposes sanctions on the apartheid state? The South African government must act now."
The Department of International Relations said, in a statement, the South African government condemned the attacks and the planned evictions.
"We would like to reiterate that Israel's actions are in stark violation of international law, also a disregard of international humanitarian law and UN Security Council Resolutions, including Resolutions 446 (1979) and 2334 (2016). The latter resolution explicitly calls for an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and the fulfilment of the rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and independence."
The statement said it was perplexing that during these unprecedented times, as the international community addresses the global challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, Israel was exploiting the situation to advance its annexation of Palestinian land.
"These acts are not only illegal but also risk undermining the viability of a negotiated two-state solution and will have negative consequences on the entire peace process.
"South Africa remains unequivocally committed to and values efforts aimed at reviving a political process, leading to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, existing side by side in peace with Israel within internationally recognised borders, based on those existing on 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in compliance with all relevant UN Resolutions, international law and internationally agreed parameters.
"South Africa reiterates that any peace plan should not allow Palestinian statehood to devolve into an entity devoid of sovereignty, territorial contiguity, and economic viability. In this regard, a solution must be premised on a just settlement with just laws that are rights-based and facilitate equality and equity for all who have a right to live in the territories of Israel and Palestine. This includes sovereign equality between states," the statement said.
Tisetso Magama, from Africa4Palestine, said South African political parties and civil organisations will be uniting in a Palestine protest march to take place this week in Cape Town.
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