Dear friends, check out our latest article/post on Apartheid and Land Eviction: South Africa and Occupied Palestinian Territory in light of the recent attacks on the Gaza strip co-authorship with my beloved sis Eleana Vlt (University of Cape Town). A parallel story that needs to be told and acknowledged far and wide in respect of basic human rights- freedom, dignity and equality. Enjoy the read and feel free to share. We will soon share a link via academia.
Δείτε την τελευταία μας ανάρτηση για το Άπαρτχάιντ και το Land Eviction: Νότια Αφρική και κατεχόμενη Παλαιστινη υπό το φως των πρόσφατων επιθέσεων στη Λωρίδα της Γάζας με την αγαπημένη μου αδερφή Ελεάνα (Πανεπιστήμιο Κείπ Τάουν). Μια παράλληλη ιστορία που πρέπει να αφηγηθεί και να αναγνωριστεί σε βάθος όσον αφορά στα βασικά ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα – ελευθερία, αξιοπρέπεια και ισότητα. Απολαύστε την ανάγνωση και μη διστάσετε να μοιραστείτε.
Sevgili kardeşim Εleana Velentza (Cape Town Universitesi) ile Gazze şeridine yapılan son saldırıların ışığında Apartheid ve Arazi Tahliyesi: Güney Afrika ve İşgal Altındaki Filistin Toprakları hakkındaki son yazımıza göz atın. Temel insan hakları-özgürlük, onur ve eşitlik açısından her yerde anlatılması ve kabul edilmesi gereken paralel bir hikaye. Okumanın keyfini çıkarın ve paylaşmaktan çekinmeyin.
Repost from:
ELEANA VELENTZA
Ph.D. Fellow in Business Administration (women’s studies, gender) at Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town
CHRISTINA VELENTZA
Independent Researcher on refugee law and human rights, Attorney at Law (Athens Bar Association, Greece)
The situation in Gaza ‘brings back terrible memories of apartheid’ South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said a few days ago regarding the situation in Gaza that reminds him of the apartheid era in his own country. He also said that South Africa stands by the Palestinians but urged both sides to sit down and negotiate as was done in South Africa in the early 1990s. It was only last month when protesters waving Palestinian flags and placards marched to the South African parliament to express their dissatisfaction with Israel and solidarity with the Palestinian people and for human rights. Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson and his wife Rabia Mandela, participated in the protest and supported opening of South African embassy in Ramallah.
In 1948 two apartheid regimes were created in South Africa and Palestinian territories. ‘’Apartheid’’ in the language of Afrikaans means ‘‘apartness’’. In South Africa, the Apartheid regime existed between 1948 and early 1990s and institutionalized racial segregation against non-white citizens became prominent when the Afrikaner National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948. Common features of the Apartheid regime were white supremacy, racial segregation, economic and political discrimination, violation of human rights and international law, ownership of land and cheap labour. Apartheid utterly transformed the economic and political context in South Africa and significantly affected internal displacement across the region.
During the Apartheid era, non-white South Africans were classified as Coloured (mixed race), Black (Bantu) and Asians (Indians and Pakistanis). They were forcefully displaced to separate areas from whites and forced to use separate public facilities. White minority was separated from non-white majority, non-whites separated from each other, and black South Africans were deeply divided. Nelson Mandela, the first Black president of South Africa (1994-1999) and civil rights advocate who successfully led the resistance to South Africa’s policy of apartheid in the 20th century stated: “It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”
The goal of Apartheid was to increase the political power of the white-minority and their utter control over the state. Apartheid’s segregation triggered the forced removal of non-white South Africans from their homes and resulted in the formation of the so-called ‘‘townships’’ and ‘‘informal settlements’’. Township is a racially segregated urban area reserved for non-whites and built in the suburbs of towns and cities. Townships were established as per the Population Registration Act, 1950 which was legalized and institutionalized by the all-white Parliament. From 1961 to 1994, more than 3.5 million Black South Africans were displaced from towns and white rural areas (including lands they had occupied for generations). The rules on land ownership secured the supremacy in wealth for the white population.
Nowadays, the township constitutes tangible evidence of the ‘’wholesale land dispossessions carried out by successive colonial regimes, from the 17th century until as recently as the 1980s’’. The 2017 Land Audit report by the South African government shows that 72% of the country’s arable land is owned by the white minority, who account for less than 10% of the total population. According to the farmers’ organization AgriSA, hitherto, hardly a quarter of such land has been restored to black farmers making the land redistribution efforts by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) since 1994 considerably inefficient. The racial segregation and the relocation of non-white South Africans to peripheral townships served the Apartheid regime’s purpose to cleanse the white centres by creating black settlements and sites where the provision of basic needs such as security, health, electricity and water, and overall hygiene was scarce, and the quality of life was downgraded.
Apartheid’s forced displacement and the unequal land redistribution for non-white South Africans is thus far existent in post-Apartheid South Africa. Systemic segregation and internal displacement continue to persist and significantly increase socio-economic disparities among wealthy, white and destitute, non-white South Africans. The architecture of Apartheid remains widely palpable separating equal from unequal, rich from poor, white from black, elite from nonprivileged. Yet again South African governmental authorities must take responsibility and proactively act in order to address post-apartheid residuals of racial segregation, inequalities and internal displacement of black people within racially defined zones in South Africa.
The Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (hereinafter Apartheid Convention) has its roots in the opposition of the United Nations to the discriminatory racial policies of the South African Government – known as apartheid – which lasted from 1948 to 1990. Apartheid was annually condemned by the General Assembly as contrary to Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter of the United Nations from 1952 until 1990; and was regularly condemned by the Security Council after 1960.
In 1966, the General Assembly labelled apartheid as a crime against humanity (resolution 2202 A (XXI) of 16 December 1966) and in 1984 the Security Council endorsed this determination (resolution 556 (1984) of 23 October 1984). The Apartheid Convention was the ultimate step in the condemnation of apartheid as it not only declared that apartheid was unlawful because it violated the Charter of the United Nations, but in addition it declared apartheid to be criminal. The Apartheid Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 30 November 1973, by 91 votes in favour, four against (Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) and 26 abstentions. It came into force on 18 July 1976. As of August 2008, it has been ratified by 107 States.
As Kylie Thomas argued, ‘[t]he re-opening of these cases creates the possibility for the perpetrators to be tried for committing crimes against humanity. This has the potential to radically shift how people think about what apartheid was, how it continues to affect the present, and how people experience and understand impunity and injustice.’
The recent heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip in the past resulted in significant loss of life including children, destruction and in the internal displacement of 72,000 persons in the Gaza Strip, with 47,000 persons seeking refuge in 58 UNRWA schools organized as Designated Emergency Shelters (DES) and about 25,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in host communities.
Between 7 and 17 May, severe unrest in the West Bank (WB), including East Jerusalem (EJ), has resulted in the death of 3 Palestinian children. The West Bank alone has seen injuries to 223 children by live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, sound grenades, and tear gas. Children in East Jerusalem have also been impacted by violence and unrest, with 26 children arrested by Israeli authorities, and 54 children injured.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported damage to 15 health facilities, whilst the Education Cluster has indicated that 49 educational facilities have been damaged due to the aerial bombardment as of 17 May. Damage to water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza has also been reported, limiting the distribution of water and damaging sewage networks.
Following the recent Israeli attacks in the Gaza strip, we should consider that the Israeli state shares the same characteristics of colonialism and apartheid policy as South Africa used to—the systematic and deliberate dehumanization, oppression and human rights abuses against the indigenous people for the benefit of an economically advanced settler population.
The colonialist policies (reminding of the Bantustans of South Africa under the apartheid regime) and the map of the occupied Palestinian territories today are predicated on the same idea of concentrating the “undesirable” population in as small an area as possible, in a series of non-contiguous enclaves are clearly shown through the systematic attempts of ethnic cleansing, increased securitization, prevention of freedom of movement, harassment and land eviction by the Israelis towards the Palestinian population in Jerusalem, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In addition, the construction of the western wall, the “wall of shame” reinstates the breaches of international law by Israel. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly noted that the “route of the wall encompassed some 80 per cent of the settlers living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory citing statements by the Security Council in that regard in relation to the Fourth Geneva Convention, recalled that those settlements had been established in breach of international law. It is clear that the occupation is not temporary, and there is not the political will in the Israeli government to bring about its end.’’
In specific, the Court observed that the construction of the wall and its associated régime created a “fait accompli” on the ground that could well become permanent, and hence tantamount to a de facto annexation. Noting further that the route chosen for the wall gave expression in loco to the illegal measures taken by Israel with regard to Jerusalem and the settlements and entailed further alterations to the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Court concluded that the construction of the wall, along with measures taken previously, severely impeded the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination and was thus a breach of Israel’s obligation to respect that right.
The Court then went on to consider the impact of the construction of the wall on the daily life of the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, finding that “the construction of the wall and its associated régime were contrary to the relevant provisions of the Hague Regulations of 1907 and of the Fourth Geneva Convention and that they impeded the liberty of movement of the inhabitants of the territory as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as their exercise of the right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living as proclaimed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child”.
The Court further found that, coupled with the establishment of settlements, the construction of the wall and its associated régime were tending to alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, thereby contravening the Fourth Geneva Convention and the relevant Security Council resolutions. The Court then considered the qualifying clauses or provisions for derogation contained in certain humanitarian law and human rights instruments, which might be invoked inter alia where military exigencies or the needs of national security or public order so required. The Court found that such clauses were not applicable in the present case, stating that it was not convinced that the specific course Israel had chosen for the wall was necessary to attain its security objectives, and that accordingly the construction of the wall constituted a breach by Israel of certain of its obligations under humanitarian and human rights law. Lastly, the Court concluded that Israel “could not rely on a right of self-defense or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of the construction of the wall, and that such construction and its associated régime were accordingly contrary to international law.”
Israel is obliged to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and its obligations under international, humanitarian and human rights law and thus should put and end the violation of its international obligations along with making reparation for all damage suffered by all natural or legal persons affected by the wall’s construction. As regards the legal consequences for other States, the Court held that all States were under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction. In addition, the Court pointed out that all States parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention were under an obligation, while respecting the Charter and international law, to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention. Finally, in regard to the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Court indicated that they should consider what further action was required to end the illegal situation in question, taking due account of the present Advisory Opinion.
As a final note, within the context of latest attacks in Gaza we should underline the remarkable mobilisation and resistance of Palestinians as well as the global solidarity shown for a free Palestine despite recent media blockade relating to accurate and independent coverage of the violence. It is more than ever time for the world to recognize that what we saw in South Africa decades ago is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories too, it is time for the world and leaders to take decisive diplomatic action and work in solidarity towards building a future of equality, dignity and freedom in the region.
Bibliography
Christopher, A. (2001). Urban Segregation in Post-apartheid South Africa. Urban Studies (Edinburgh, Scotland), 38(3), 449–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120027447
Friedman S. (2021) South Africa remains a nation of insiders and outsiders, 27 years after democracy, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/south-africa-remains-a-nation-of-insiders-and-outsiders-27-years-after-democracy-159561
Leland Ware. (2020). Before and After Segregation and Apartheid: A Comparative Analysis. The Thinker, 85, 63–73.
Land audit report. Phase II, Private land ownership by race, gender and nationality. (2017). Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf
White, T. (2005). A clear and uncluttered history of racism in South Africa South Africa’s Racial Past: The History and Historiography of Racism, Segregation and Apartheid, Paul Maylam : Book review. Historia (Three Rivers), 50(1), 195–197.
Worger, W. H. (2003). Reviews: Combining the History and Historiography of South Africa: “South Africa’s Racial Past: The History and Historiography of Racism, Segregation, and Apartheid,” by Paul Maylam. Journal of African History, 44(1), 153–154.
Other references
Anadolu Agency, Hundreds in South Africa protest for Palestine, 13 May 2021,
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/hundreds-in-south-africa-protest-for-palestine/2240537
France24, South African president: The situation in Gaza ‘brings back terrible memories of apartheid’, 19 May 2021,https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/the-interview/20210519-south-african-president-the-situation-in-gaza-brings-back-terrible-memories-of-apartheid
GroundUp, It’s apartheid, say Israeli ambassadors to South Africa, 8 June 2021, https://www.groundup.org.za/article/israeli-ambassadors-compare-israel-south-africa/
ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/131
John Dugard, Audiovisual Library of international Law, Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
New York, 30 November 1973 https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html
Palestine for Africa, Press Statement: Africa4Palestine welcome ceasefire, calls for Israel to be held accountable at ICC, 20 May 2021,https://africa4palestine.com/2021/05/africa4palestine-welcomes-ceasefire-calls-for-israel-to-be-held-accountable-at-icc/
Palestine for Africa, Press Statement: Multi-party protest march in Durban later today
28 May 2021, https://africa4palestine.com/2021/05/multi-party-protest-in-durban-today/
Reliefweb-OCHA, Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt): Response to the escalation in the oPt – Situation Report No. 1: 21 – 27 May 2021https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/occupied-palestinian-territory-opt-response-escalation-opt
Reliefweb, UNICEF State of Palestine Humanitarian Situation Report No. 2 (Gaza Escalation): 18 May 2021, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unicef-state-palestine-humanitarian-situation-report-no-2-gaza
Human Rights Watch, A Threshold Crossed, Israeli Authorities and the crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, 27 April 2021, https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
The New Arab,Iconic anti-apartheid statue in South Africa lights up with Palestinian flag, 30 May 2021, https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/anti-apartheid-figure-lit-palestine-flag-durban
TRT World, Ziyad Motala, Israel and Apartheid: Lessons from the South African Experience, 08 June 2021, https://www.trtworld.com/perspectives/israel-and-apartheid-lessons-from-the-south-african-experience-47316
*All photos are retrieved from the personal archive of the authors
Christina Velentza 
0 comments on “Apartheid and Land Eviction: South Africa and Occupied Palestinian Territory in light of the recent attacks on the Gaza strip”