Symposium on Unbroken Bond: Tracing the Ties Between African and Palestinian Anti-Colonial Struggles – A Reflection on Forms of Resistance and Aid Strategies Against Apartheid-era South Africa that are Relevant to the Palestinian Struggle

[Lazola Nomkala holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of the Western Cape (UWC)]

On 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the Israeli occupation in Palestine was illegal. Despite the disputed nature of Israel’s origins, the occupation formally began in 1967. What followed was the violent dispossession of Palestinians achieved via the confiscation of their homelands. The occupation has devastated entire Palestinian communities as Israel has imposed draconian restrictions on their movement, as well as limited their access to their natural resources. In addition, whole Palestinian communities have been displaced to make way for Israel settlements, which the ICJ also declared were illegal. 

Today’s post is intended to modestly reflect on how international solidarity with the Palestinian people (through governments and civil society) has supported their struggles. I will focus on how international solidarity can be used to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine as well as the genocide it is currently perpetrating. Beginning with a brief analysis of the international solidarity that helped end the apartheid regime in South Africa, I will examine the lessons we can glean on tactics that can be used to liberate Palestine.

National Resistance

Apartheid was formalised as a system of governance in South Africa in 1948, when the National Party (NP) won the elections. This regime was modelled on a system of segregation and white superiority, with many elements borrowed from the Jim Crow laws in the United States and perfected by the white minority. 

The apartheid regime was formally overthrown in 1993 and South Africa’s first democratic president (Nelson Mandela) elected in 1994. Over the decades, steady internal and external resistance mounted, with the African National Congress (ANC) starting its defiance campaign against apartheid laws in the 1950s. To illustrate, activists and the public marched against apartheid and went into ‘white spaces’ while refusing to carry ‘passes’. This form of resistance continued in the 1960s and 1970s with other liberation movements such as the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) adding their support. The strength of South Africa’s internal resistance lay in the widespread participation of every demographic in the struggle to end apartheid. Student marches in the 1970s and 1980s even led the apartheid government to declare that South Africa was in a ‘state of emergency’. 

Simultaneously, the international community of states and civil society supported the anti-apartheid movement in a multitude of ways. The killings of the Sharpeville Massacre (1960) and the Soweto uprising (1976) drew global attention to the brutality suffered by non-white South Africans during this regime, to the point where the United Nations (UN) adopted a resolution that condemned apartheid policies and called on the member states to halt military and economic relations with the state. Further, the UN adopted another resolution in 1972 that labelled apartheid as a ‘Crime against humanity’, eventually leading to South Africa’s suspension from the General Assembly in 1974. 

Civil Society

South Africa is a fascinating case study, as it took the involvement of every fragment of society to overthrow the apartheid regime. The importance of the above-mentioned regional mechanisms is that they validated the struggles of the oppressed people in South Africa. Bear in mind that the colonial project and its extensions such as apartheid regime were born in a time where Europe and its associated legal order permitted the brutalisation of certain ethnic groups, as long as these indignities were advancing and solidifying white supremacy. Therefore, the unambiguous condemnation of the apartheid regime by these regional bodies and states legitimised the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. 

Civil society also played a vital role. Across the world, non-Governmental organisations, musicians, artists, athletes and sports teams, and ordinary people to name a few partook in the international campaign to free South Africa from apartheid. They hosted concerts to raise awareness and pressure governments to halt relations with South Africa. Numerous sporting competitions banned South Africa from competing. South African exports were boycotted as the people of the world stood in solidarity with the oppressed people of South Africa. 

It took decades to formally overthrow the apartheid regime, with a confluence of stakeholders adding to the pressure on the apartheid government. Both internal and external resistance were key.

International Resistance

Despite the parallels, there are differences including the sheer savagery Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians. For one, the ‘genocide is being televised’. Unlike many historical incidents of gross human rights violations, which were easier to hide and manipulate, as determined by the ICJ, there is irrefutable proof that indeed Israel’s actions have placed the Palestinian at risk of genocide. This fact is evident from the numerous eyewitness accounts of the human rights violations and has been legitimised by regional bodies such as the UN and the ICJ, as well as the statements of Israeli officials (with the Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, wishing the world would allow Israel to “cause 2 million Gazans to die of hunger”). 

In 2004 the ICJ was called upon by the UN General Assembly in resolution ES-10/14, to urgently render an advisory opinion to give an opinion on the occupation of Israel in Gaza with focus on the Apartheid Wall. In addition to declaring the wall illegal, the ICJ expressed that the right of every state to self-determination is erga omnes. The court further noted that the routes taken for the wall that was erected by Israel and measures taken “severely impede on the right to self determination of the Palestinian people”.    

Since that ruling, the situation has worsened, so much so that the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory has reported the situation in Gaza as an ongoing genocide. Francesca Albanese has explained that genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians. Further, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has characterised the situation in Gaza as a “war on children” because of the shattering figures including Israel’s massacre of nearly 20,000 children. The human rights violations committed by Israel are so egregious that on a prima facie basis, they constitute the highest level of criminality. Earlier this year the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (Khan) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defence of Israel. The warrants were issued as prosecutor Khan had reason to believe that the two bear the responsibility for crimes against humanity as well as war crimes. 

Way Forward: Informed Strategies

In the movement to end the occupation of Palestine and save the people from genocide, we must be strategic. Where crude force has fallen short, diplomacy and international solidarity must prove the victor. Comparatively, a lesson from the eradication of apartheid in South Africa is that the anti-apartheid campaign solidified around the resistance of civil society. This is referred to as the ‘turning point’. Following the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where numerous students were viciously brutalised and some even killed, public disdain for apartheid intensified leading to a stronger demand for its end within the international community. At present, we are experiencing the ‘turning point’ in the struggle to end the illegal occupation and genocide. 

We might say that the job is halfway done. As characterised above, it has been sufficiently proven that Israel has perpetrated extreme violations of international law and various human rights. This fact cannot be reasonably objected to. Thus, the work now is to use the momentum of international solidarity to back the Palestinian people as they fight to end the genocide and, in turn, the occupation. Not unlike the case study of South Africa, civil society in all its facets has taken up the crusade to oppose the genocide of the Palestinian people. Throughout the world, students, religious groups, and even public figures have openly criticised Israel for its brutalities. Several groups have issued calls for the boycotting of all Israeli exports and BDS is picking up pace. Earlier this year fast-food giant McDonalds announced that it made a loss of approximately 7 billion dollars due to the boycott. Moreover, the recognition of Palestine as an independent state by the Caribbean block and several European states (Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia and Armenia) is an important victory in this movement. The hope is that international solidarity can continue to pressure member states who have not yet recognised Palestine to do so. Many actions are underway, and I conclude by asking: what will you do to support the liberation of Palestine?