The human rights and Palestine solidarity organization, Africa for Palestine (formerly BDS South Africa), has made a difficult decision to cancel several of its planned public events for the next 30 days amidst the spread of the Coronavirus. 

This measure is taken in line with the position adopted by several African government’s to discourage large public events in an attempt to halt the spread of the Coronavirus. Coronavirus can jeopardise the health and safety of our activists, our supporters and members of the public and we therefore heed the call to cancel and limit large public events. It is also irresponsible not to follow containment measures.

We are, however, calling on our activists and supporters across South Africa and the African continent to join us in continuing our solidarity with the Palestinian people in the following ways:

[1] Join us on social media by using the hashtag #africaforpalestine. Tweet in support of the Palestinian people and we will retweet, send us a query and we will respond. Click here for Facebook. Click here for Twitter. Click here for Instagram.

[2] On Netflix you can find the award-winning Palestine documentary “Born in Gaza.” Watch it with your family, share it with friends and let us know your views. Click here.

[3] We’ve created a playlist on YouTube where you can find full length Palestine documentaries and movies. Click here to watch.

[4] The acclaimed Palestinian novel, “Morning in Jenin,” by the celebrated author Susan Abulhawa can be found on Takealot.com (both hardcopy, click here, as well as ebook, click here).

[5] Finally, we will be making available free copies of books, movies and other material in the course of the next few days. Follow us on social media for updates.

Africa for Palestine (AFP) applauds the countless medics, emergency personnel, health workers, government officials, fellow civil society organisations and others who are treating the sick, assisting in putting in place preventative measures, raising awareness and working to combat as well as halt the Coronavirus. United we can overcome this threat.

Finally we condemn the discriminatory way in which Israel has dealt with the Coronavirus by privileging how it treats Hebrew speaking Israeli Jews in comparison to the indigenous Arabic-speaking Palestinians. According to the human rights organisation, Adalah, the Israeli Health Ministry official updates related to Coronavirus are being issued only in Hebrew; Arabic-language updates are issued only after significant and protracted delays. In addition, the ministry’s social media posts and smartphone app are accessible only in Hebrew.  Palestinians (who speak arabic) make up 20 percent of Israel’s population. In addition, Israel controls all borders into and out of the occupied Palestinian Territories. This is comparable to Apartheid South Africa, during an epidemic in the 1980s, only issuing official updates in Afrikaans.

ISSUED BY TISETSO MAGAMA ON BEHALF OF AFRICA FOR PALESTINE (formerly BDS South Africa)

Spokesperson, Tisetso Magama: +27 (0) 614146348
Director, Muhammed Desai: +27 (0) 842119988