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Israeli apartheid clear: embassy

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Israel’s refusal to grant Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande access to Palestine has sparked concern from the Palestine Embassy in Pretoria. The Embassy’s spokesperson Tamer Al-Masri said they had been aware of Israel’s refusal to grant Nzimande a six day working visa to Palestine. Arrangements for the trip had already begun six months ago however, Al-Masri said this move by Israel is a clear indication of how it practices its control and occupation of the occupied territories.

“We wanted to strengthen the ties between Palestine and South Africa through this educational agreement. When we heard the news of Israel denying Comrade Nzimande access, we tried hard to arrange a visa again but was unsuccessful. He was intending to visit Palestine, not even Israel. Clearly the international community can now see Israeli apartheid in Palestine,” Al Masri said.

In addition to this, Al-Masri said the apartheid regime in South African post 1994 is no different to the Israeli apartheid, stating that their refusal to grant Nzimande access to Palestine is being repeated to other international human rights activist. This practise was akin to apartheid, he said.

“We will continue our struggle with all our friends in the world. Especially South Africa, our friends, comrades and brothers. We highly appreciate your continuous efforts to stand up for justice and help you friends in Palestine. We need to stand together and raise our voice to say frankly, stop this occupation. Many thanks for Comrade Nzimande and his team who worked around the clock to make his trip to Palestine a success but unfortunately, this is the reality of the occupation,” Al-Masri added.

He also thanked the South African government and its people for it’s continuous support for Palestinians and for striving to see an end to the Israel occupation in his country. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)


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