Crescent International
Dr Ahmed Haroon Jazbhay
The three-day Global Anti-apartheid Conference held in Johannesburg (May 10-12) has set the tone for an irreversible paradigm shift towards Palestine liberation.
Speakers, panelists, and conference attendees were unanimous on key aspects that had previously divided Palestinian solidarity movements.
Speakers were unequivocal in their assertion that the zionist entity is a settler colonial project, while some argued that all options must be embraced, including support for armed resistance efforts led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Progressive forces at the conference argued that Palestinians have an inalienable right to self-determination.
In accordance with the right to self-determination was the growing belief expressed by many speakers that the two-state solution (more correctly described as the two-state delusion) should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Lamis Deek vociferously argued against the two-state delusion, arguing that there is no moral or legal basis or even strategic advantage in embracing and promoting such an unjust endgame for Palestine.
Additionally, Mustafa Barghouti, of the Palestine National Initiative, stated in a Palestine Chronicle interview on the sidelines of the conference that: “I think we are in a very important struggle to achieve our freedom and our dignity. I do not see Palestine except as one country with one democratic system with equal rights for everybody, where Palestinians can enjoy not only freedom and dignity but also prosperity.”
The Media Review Network calls upon the South African government to take heed of these sentiments and abandon its naive promotion of the two-state delusion.
This approach unjustly rewards an entity for 76 years of zionist settler colonialism.
The Media Review Network (MRN) would have preferred to see the Islamic perspective not relegated to the periphery of the proceedings.
The conference should have been openly embraced and supported the armed resistance being waged by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a legitimate response to the violent process of zionist settler colonialism.
An irreversible paradigm shift has occurred in the Palestinian struggle for true and meaningful liberation.
Now it’s time for all solidarity movements around the world to capitalise on this moment.
Dr Ahmed Haroon Jazbhay is Executive Member, Media Review Network, Johannesburg, South Africa
