Why is South Africa still helping apartheid Israel?

Sayed Dhansay | Electronic Intifada

21 July 2009

A few weeks ago I departed from South Africa for the Gaza Strip in order to take up a short-term voluntary post with a humanitarian organization there. As the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is effectively the only passage in and out of the besieged territory, flying to Cairo was my only option in gaining access to Gaza.

The Egyptian border authorities controlling the Rafah crossing have varying and often arbitrary requirements that must be fulfilled by anyone wishing to enter Gaza, which change regularly and without notice. The latest requirement is that any non-Palestinian wishing to visit Gaza needs to obtain prior written permission from their embassy in Cairo. This is ostensibly to ensure that foreigners have received the relevant travel warnings from their respective embassies and to absolve the Egyptian government of any responsibility for their health or safety once in Gaza.

While this appears reasonable, as I learned over the next few days, it is actually designed to prevent the entry of foreigners into the Gaza Strip. At the South African Embassy in Cairo, I quickly realized that my government was conspiring with the Egyptian and Israeli siege of the tiny coastal territory. After repeated requests with various representatives, my embassy refused to provide the necessary permission for me to enter Gaza. Indeed, I was told that the embassy was under “strict orders directly from the South African government not to facilitate the travel of any South African citizen to Gaza via Rafah.” Even when I contacted the South African Ambassador, Ms. Santo Kudjoe directly, my request for assistance was denied without any credible reasons. After this, the embassy simply began ignoring my telephone calls.

What enraged me further was that the embassies of every other country, except Sweden, were cooperating with their citizens and providing them with the necessary letters of consent. I personally saw American, French and Polish aid workers entering because they had the dreaded letter.

I had expected to encounter difficulty from Egyptian and Israeli authorities upon attempting to enter Gaza. But neither had interfered. After traveling thousands of kilometers, and now literally standing a few hundred meters away from Gaza, the sad irony was that it was my own government that was preventing me from entering. I couldn’t understand why South Africa, which claims to be sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle, had adopted this policy.

Since the beginning of the Israeli-led siege on Gaza over two years ago, the territory has been plunged into socioeconomic chaos. According to the UN, 80 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants are directly dependent on aid for their basic staple foods. Local trade and industry has collapsed due to virtually all imports and exports being unable to bypass the almost-permanently sealed borders.

The list of 3,000 to 4,000 basic items that were permitted to enter the area prior to the blockade has now been reduced to between 30 to 40 items, with basic household necessities such as light bulbs, candles, matches, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner prohibited from entering.

Almost no gasoline or diesel has been allowed in since November 2008, forcing people to run their vehicles and ambulances on cooking gas. Gaza’s only power plant has shut down several times after running out of fuel because the crossing used to import the fuel has been closed. Oxfam research shows that houses across Gaza are without electricity between 4 percent and 33 percent of the time.

In addition, the ban on import of pipes, pumps and other spare parts has caused the collapse of Gaza’s water and sewage network. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, Gaza residents receive only half of their required water needs, with 80 percent of that deemed unfit for consumption by international standards. WHO estimates that between 50-70 million liters of raw or poorly-treated sewage is released into the sea from Gaza daily, due to the collapsing sewage network. Some of Gaza’s sewage is stored in huge lagoons, one of which burst in 2007 causing at least five deaths.

The UN recorded that over 52,000 houses, 800 industrial sites, 204 schools, 39 mosques and two churches were partially or completely destroyed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza. While international donors have pledged over $3 billion to help rebuild the devastated area, reconstruction efforts have been rendered impossible due to the blockade. As at June 2009, not a single pane of glass had entered Gaza from Israel, while only two truckloads of cement have been granted entry thus far.

Bearing this and our own recent struggle against oppression and apartheid in this country in mind, I find it utterly inconceivable that the South African government would stand in the way of aid workers attempting to render their time and skills in an area so desperately in need of assistance. I have heard several prominent political figures vociferously swearing their loyal support and admiration for the Palestinians on so many occasions, some even going as far as saying that “South Africa is not free until Palestine is free.” This however, unfortunately, appears to be nothing but lip service.

A recently published report conducted by the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and endorsed by a broad range of humanitarian organizations, accused the South African government of “complicity in Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid.” The report highlights a striking inconsistency between South Africa’s constitution, its obligations under international law, and stated foreign policy on the one hand, and the government’s trade relations with Israeli companies that are directly linked to settlements, checkpoints and the “separation wall” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories — all deemed illegal under international law — on the other.

South Africa’s main power utility, Eskom, for example is accused of having close ties to the Israel Electric Company. According to a speech given at the Israeli Knesset by a South African government representative earlier this year, the Israel Electric Company will participate in the design of new power stations in South Africa. According to the report, the Israel Electric Company is the sole provider of power to all of the occupied West Bank’s illegal settlements.

In addition, Eskom has signed many large contracts with Alstom, a global giant in the transport and energy infrastructure industry, to upgrade its existing plants, as well as build new power stations. Alstom is the same company that is currently being sued in a French court for its involvement in the Jerusalem light rail project built on Palestinian land illegally, and threatening the destruction of many more homes.

Transnet, the South African government’s owner and operator of all national rail and port infrastructure, is also linked to the Israeli video surveillance company NICE Systems. In several multi-million dollar projects, NICE Systems is supplying Transnet with thousands of video surveillance cameras and ancillary equipment throughout the country. According to the report, NICE Systems is heavily involved in wiretapping and surveillance for the Israeli government, with close ties to Israeli intelligence.

South Africa’s state diamond trader Alexkor, is involved primarily in the mining and sale of rough, gem-quality diamonds on the South African Diamond Exchange. Being the world’s largest importer of rough diamonds, Israel is known to buy up a large percentage of South Africa’s rough diamonds. Alexkor is accused of doing business with Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev. Leviev, a Ukrainian-born billionaire is heavily involved in the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Due to his extensive role in illegal settlement construction, Leviev has been boycotted by the British government, who refuse to rent property from him for the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

It is well-known that the former South African apartheid regime had close military ties with Israel. But according to the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign’s report, there are still extensive military ties between the two countries. These include the sale of explosive detonators, military aircraft, satellites, as well as spare parts and components for other military vehicles to Israel. In 2005, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that a high level delegation of South African defense ministry officials visited Israel in order to discuss military cooperation.

The report goes on to detail the involvement of numerous other South African State organs, including Telkom, in large-scale transactions and business deals with companies directly involved in the occupation, settlement construction as well as the separation wall.

In a written submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2004, the Republic of South Africa clearly stated that it considers the separation wall and settlements illegal. It has therefore acknowledged the applicability of international humanitarian law to the case of Palestine, and thus implicitly accepted the obligations which flow from these laws. Furthermore, the Department of Foreign Affairs has affirmed that “respect for and adherence to international law underpins [South Africa’s] foreign policy.” In South Africa’s case as a third party, the most important obligation is thus to ensure that these laws are enforced.

Why then, do the South African government’s actions and trade relations conflict so drastically with their stated foreign policy and legal and moral obligations? It appears that the government is playing a double game by appeasing the public with lofty rhetoric on the one hand, while violating its own founding ideals as enshrined in the constitution on the other.

Due to their support of South Africans struggling against apartheid, Palestinians likewise expect the same level of support from the now free and democratic South Africa. It was largely because of the pressure exerted by the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that the apartheid regime was forced to abolish its racist policies. The least we can do is to return the favor and avoid short-term financial gain from blurring our moral responsibilities.

Having only recently broken free of the humiliation and degradation of apartheid, South Africa should be at the forefront of ending similar injustices wherever else they are found. And if our government is truly a peace loving democracy as it claims to be, then its economic policies should reflect its stated ideals accordingly.

Sayed Dhansay is a South African writer and political activist who volunteered for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2006-2007.

‘Charges toughened against IDF officer in shooting of bound Palestinian’

Ha’aretz

21 July 2009

Israel’s Military Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, on Tuesday ordered tougher charges against an Israel Defense Forces officer who presided over the shooting of a bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainee.

Lt. Col. Omri Borberg and his soldier, known as Staff Sgt. L., were formally charged with “improper conduct” over the incident, which took place in the West Bank village of Na’alin last September.

But in early July, the High Court ordered Mandelblit to reconsider the indictment against the pair. The advocate general subsequently decided to charge Borberg with intimidation, and the soldier with having made unlawful use of a weapon.

“Following the High Court decision, the Military Advocate General conducted extensive consultations regarding the matter with the Attorney General of Israel and the State Attorney,” the IDF said in a statement.

“After the consultations, a decision was made on the basis of the the opinions of the Attorney General and State Attorney, and today, the modified indictment was served.”

Following the amendment to the indictment, legal proceedings against the pair will have to begin anew.

The victim, Ashraf Abu Rahmeh, 27, was not seriously hurt in the incident, in which he was shot in the foot with a rubber bullet.

He was detained during a protest against the construction of Israel’s security fence in the West Bank.

The soldier and officer said they had intended only to frighten him.

Campaigners for evicted Palestinians call on Barack Obama to intervene

Rachel Shabi | The Guardian

20 July 2009

Campaigners protesting at the eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem to make way for a Jewish development today appealed to President Barack Obama to stop the settlement going ahead.

The families, who have lived in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood north of the Old City, were given until last Sunday by an Israeli court to leave their homes, and now face fines, arrests and eviction. The decision affects 55 people, including 14 children.

The families say that, as refugees from the 1948 war, they were given the houses in 1956 by the UN’s refugee agency and the Jordanian government, which controlled the area until 1967.

But the Israeli court upheld a prior claim to the land by the Sephardi Community Committee, which subsequently sold the rights to an Israeli construction company with reported US investment ties.

“They have the power and we could be evicted or arrested at any time,” says Maher Hannoun, head of one of the families at Sheikh Jarrah. “But I will never run away from my house. It is my job to protest my house and my children.”

Nahalot Shimon International, the company that the court decreed current owner of the site, has plans to build a new 200-unit settlement in the area – which would affect a further 20 or so Palestinian families.

“My children keep asking me, ‘Daddy are we going to live in a tent?’ What do I tell them? I tell them I have hope that it won’t happen,” says Hannoun, a 51-year-old salesman whose family is from Haifa, now in Israel, and Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

The neighbourhood is close to the site of the Shepherd Hotel, where the US recently demanded that Israeli halt a construction project. Building has not yet commenced at the site of the old, disused hotel – a vast stone building and sprawling terrace, once owned by the grand mufti of Jerusalem and bought by the American millionaire Irving Moskowitz in 1985.

Yesterday, the Guardian revealed that 80-year-old Moskowitz is funding many illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel after the 1967 war – a move not recognised by the international community. Israel maintains the Jewish right to reside in any part of Jerusalem.

“It is not about the Jewish right to live in East Jerusalem,” says Meir Margalit, a Meretz party member of Jerusalem city council. “But about settlers who have come with a dangerous political agenda to ‘Israelise’ the area, change the demographic and in that way undermine any kind of political solution in the future.”

Most Arabs can’t buy most homes in West Jerusalem

Nir Hasson | Ha’aretz

21 July 2009

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed this week that Jerusalem is an “open city” that permits all its inhabitants, Jewish and Palestinian, to purchase homes in both its eastern and western parts.

“Our policy is that Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city’s east,” Netanyahu said in response to the U.S. request to halt a Jewish construction project in East Jerusalem.

An examination by Haaretz, however, presented a rather different situation on the ground. According to Israel Lands Administration rules, residents of East Jerusalem cannot take ownership of the vast majority of Jerusalem homes.

When an Israeli citizen purchases an apartment or house, ownership of the land remains with the ILA, which leases it to the purchaser for a period of 49 years, enabling the registration of the home (“tabu”). Article 19 of the ILA lease specifies that a foreign national cannot lease – much less own – ILA land.

Attorney Yael Azoulay, of Zeev and Naomi Weil Lawyers and Notary Office, explains that if a foreign national purchases an apartment they must show the ILA proof of eligibility to immigrate to Israel in accordance with the Law of Return. Non-Jewish foreigners cannot purchase apartments. This group includes Palestinians from the east of the city, who have Israeli identity cards but are residents rather than citizens of Israel.

Most residences in West Jerusalem and in the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem are built on ILA land. All the neighborhoods built after 1967 – Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramot, French Hill and Armon Hanatziv – are built on ILA land. Even in the older neighborhoods of Kiryat Hayovel, Katamonim and Beit Hakerem, tens of thousands of apartments are built on ILA land and cannot be sold to Palestinians. In the ultra-Orthodox central Jerusalem neighborhoods of Geula and Mea Shearim, as well as in Rehavia and Talbieh, there are homes built on private land – mainly owned by one of the churches or purchased in the past by Jews.

It goes without saying that a Palestinian seeking to purchase an apartment in a Haredi area would be rejected out of hand, and Rehavia or Talbieh would in any event be out of the range of most East Jerusalemites’ budget.

Nevertheless, dozens of Palestinian families have moved into Jewish neighborhoods, mainly French Hill and Pisgat Ze’ev. Most are renting, while a few buy apartments without registering them. Lawyers in the field say the law is not always applied, and that if a resident of East Jerusalem were to apply to register the apartment at the ILA, they would not have problems doing so.

If the amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law is passed – the bill is in an advanced stage – an Israeli apartment owner would be able to take ownership of the land and could then sell it to anyone, including foreign nationals and Palestinians.

Peace activist finally allowed to return to UK

Herald Express

21 July 2009

A totnes peace activist who spent a year in Gaza has returned to the UK.

Jenny Linnell flew back from the Middle East in London at the weekend following weeks of being stuck at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The pro-Palestinian human rights charity worker had been prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip through Egypt after she was identified as one of the peace activists from Europe who came into Gaza on the Free Gaza boat last year.

Ms Linnell, a former vegan chef at The Willow restaurant in Totnes, moved to Gaza last August as part of the Free Gaza Movement and International Solidarity Movement to help Palestinians and document the hardship of their daily lives.

Ms Linnell was in Gaza in January when the Israeli army, responding to rocket attacks from Hamas, carried out a three-week bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

Last month, the 33-year-old tried to return to Britain, but she says she was unable to leave Gaza because neither Israel nor Egypt would let her out through their borders.

The humanitarian aid worker and three fellow UK citizens, including two men and a woman, tried to cross the border several times, but were turned away despite having the necessary official documents from the British Embassy in Cairo, the Palestinian government and the Egyptians.

At the time she said she had been despairing and was feeling like a prisoner at the border crossing and was not being let out.

It is understood she was finally allowed to go to Egypt so she could move on to Jordan.

Ms Linnell went to Syria then Turkey before catching a plane back to Heathrow on Saturday.

One of Ms Linnell’s friends from Totnes, Richard Taylor said: “She’s back in the UK and we are all very relieved that she is safe and sound. She travelled overland after she received a call from the British consulate in Cairo telling her if she went straight to the border now she’d be able to go across.

“We think it happened because George Galloway was out there delivering some humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“It was such a worry to have a close friend on the front line.

“She’s not due back down to Devon for a while because she’s staying with her family.

“But she has been overwhelmed with the support she received here. We’re over the moon.”

Fellow friend and humanitarian buddy Liz Snook added: “It seems Jenny didn’t actually see Galloway who was due to return to the UK a day early.

“But she was let out which is what counts. A big thank you to every one who put pressure on the Foreign office, the Egyptian Embassy and MP and MEPs. It seems to have worked. I’m so pleased she’s back.”

Ms Linnell who is understood to be staying with her parents in Leicester, was not available for comment.