The South African minister called on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to classify Israel as an apartheid state and to hold it responsible for its violations against the Palestinians.
Speaking at the second meeting of the Palestinian Heads of Mission in the South African capital Pretoria, Naledi Pandor said Pretoria believes Israel should be classified as an apartheid state and that the United Nations should establish a committee to probe their concerns.
Pandor cited Israel’s continued occupation of “large parts of the West Bank” and the construction of new illegal settlements as “blatant examples of violations of international law”.
Pandor insisted that South Africans’ struggle against state-sanctioned systemic racism gives them the ability to understand the plight of the Palestinian people.
Pandor has also denounced the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces on May 11 while she covered an Israeli raid in the West Bank.
Amnesty International released a report earlier this year that described Israel as an apartheid state, becoming the latest organization to join a string of human rights groups that have used the term to describe Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians.
