South Africa seeks that Israel is declared an apartheid state, and is collaborating with Palestine to file a request at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Minister of Foreign Affairs Naledi Pandor said on Monday as cited by the media.
According to the minister, numerous measures are in place to make sure that the current state of affairs in Palestine doesn't worsen. The minister reminded that South Africa also prevented Israel from obtaining observer status at the African Union.
In response to a written parliamentary question from MP Vuyani Pambo of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party, Pandor stated that they wanted Israel to cease its attacks on Palestine and be declared an apartheid state by ICC and ICJ.
"South Africa and Palestine are currently working on formulating practical strategies towards taking up the Palestinian cause to the ICC and ICJ to declare Israel an apartheid state. South Africa will directly petition the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination from its prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967," said Pandor, according to the IOL.
Moreover, according to Pandor, her country's efforts to support Palestine won't stop if the ICC and ICJ declare Israel to be an apartheid state; South Africa also wishes Palestine to be granted membership in the UN.
"On the global level, South Africa supports Palestinian efforts for membership of the United Nations and the creation of positive, credible, and lasting international mechanisms to address the Palestinian cause based on international law," Pandor reportedly concluded.
After Hamas, a militant and political Palestinian organization, attacked Israel on October 7, the Jewish state declared war on the movement. According to the Gaza Strip government's press office, more than 13,300 people in Gaza have already died in the latest round of violence of the protracted conflict between Israel and Palestine, including over 5,600 Palestinian children.
Ever since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict entered a new escalation phase, different countries advocated a peaceful settlement of the imbroglio. South Africa was among them, offering ways toward a peaceful resolution and ceasefire.
Amid this new round of violence in the Middle East, relations between South Africa and Israel have worsened.
Thus, in early November, South Africa announced the withdrawal of all its diplomats in Tel Aviv. On Friday, along with the filing of a referral to the ICC to ensure that the court pays urgent attention to the situation in Palestine, the South African Cabinet also expressed hope that the ICC would issue an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli top-officials by mid-December.
Moreover, a motion to close the Israeli embassy in Pretoria is scheduled for a vote in the South African parliament on Tuesday.
The ANC has repeatedly compared Israel's policy regarding Palestinian territories with apartheid — a racial segregation policy that existed in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s when the country's relatively small white population dominated the political, economic, social and cultural levels of the coutry.