As protests erupt in Palestine and other countries in opposition to US President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East ‘peace plan’, South African civil society will also hold pickets in Cape Town. Palestinian solidarity groups will mobilise on Wednesday at Parliament, ahead of the upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) to be delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The picket will start at 2pm on Wednesday 12 February.

Trump’s vision, which is 50 pages long, emphasises Israel’s security rather than the quest for Palestinian self-determination. The plan, known as the ‘Deal of the Century’, has been unequivocally rejected by all Palestinian political parties and the UN, who stated that it did not conform with UN guidelines. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to send the plan to “the rubbish bin of history”. Across the world, there’s been a chorus of opposition to the plan, by Palestinians, progressive Jewish Israelis and activists for human rights – with locals calling it ‘the steal of the century’.

“On the eve of his State of the Nation Address Address (SONA), we are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to strengthen our government’s firm stance against Israel’s Apartheid regime,” said Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement in South Africa.

The picket comes in the wake of President Ramaphosa’s inaugural address as new chairperson of the African Union at Summit in Addis Ababa at the weekend. Ramaphosa said Africa has a key responsibility to Palestine and Trump’s ‘deal’ was akin to Apartheid’s Bantustans.

“It brought to mind a horrible history that we, as South Africa, went through. The apartheid regime once imposed a Bantustan system on the people of South Africa without consulting them,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa has previously compared Apartheid South Africa to the situation that Palestinians are living under saying: “As long as that struggle persists we will be on the side of the Palestinians…we will always be on the right side because we know what is happening there, its gross apartheid taking place there and we cannot but countenance a situation which is a duplicate or replica of what we went through, that we are not going to apologise for.”

A host of organisations such as the MJC, ANC, SACP, COSATU, NEHAWU, Embassy of Palestine, ANC YL, YCL, FOCUS, Al Quds Foundation, Media Review Network and others will be in attendance. The public is urged to support the picket.

VOC