SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT STANDS BY THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE – STATEMENT BY MANDLA MANDELA (MP)
– Israeli delegation invite rejected

We applaud Parliament’s decision to reject the invitation for the Israeli parliamentary delegation to visit. In so doing parliament has stayed true to Madiba’s commitment to stand by the Palestinian cause until Palestine is free.

We congratulate all who joined our call for Parliament to take a strong stand on this matter, including the MJC, Al Aqsa Foundation, BDS, The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), solidarity organizations, human rights bodies and other groups and individuals who hold Madiba’s legacy and the Palestinian cause close to their hearts.

We especially want to express our gratitude and appreciation to the ANC parliamentary caucus for its resolute and firm stand to reject the Israeli invite and call on them to equally pressurise our ANC led government to deny access to our country, to send the Israeli Ambassador packing and to recall our Ambassador from Apartheid Israel and cut-off all diplomatic and other ties.

History calls upon us to take similar measures to those taken by freedom, justice and peace loving communities that supported the Global Anti Apartheid Movement against the brutal and illegitimate South African regime. We must not relent in our endeavours to garner support for the Palestinian cause, the return of 6 million Palestinian refugees, the return of illegally occupied Palestinian land, an end to illegal Israeli settlements and respect for International law and the many UN Resolutions with respect to Jerusalem as the capital of a free Palestine.

As we celebrate the victory of rejecting the invitation for the Israeli delegation to Parliament we are keenly aware that certain reactionary opposition parties and individuals will try to ignore this Parliamentary decision and still entertain the Israeli delegation. We want to say to them that the blood of innocent children, women and elderly Palestinians are on your hands if you do so.

We call on all peace loving people, organisations, governments and others who supported our anti-apartheid cause to stand with us as we uphold Nkosi Dalibhunga’s, our Founding Father’s, legacy and his call that we can never be completely free until Palestine is free.

Ends…

Nkosi Zwelivelile
Royal House of Mandela
Mvezo Komkhulu
P.O. Box 126
Viedgesville, 5102
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa