Ook binne geloofsgemeenskappe heers verdeeldheid oor Suid-Afrika se besluit om Israel by die Internasionale Geregshof in Den Haag van volksmoord te verkla.
Biskop Malusi Mpumlwana het op Vrydag 12 Januarie namens die Suid-Afrikaanse Raad van Kerke (SARK) in ’n verklaring die Suid-Afrikaanse regering geloof vir hulle “courage to intervene” in die vernietigende Israel-Hamas-oorlog in Gasa.
“This is a landmark case that is set to occasion a conscientious, humanitarian dispensation for the distressed Palestinian population of Gaza, and ultimately for the internationally acceptable political solution for the intractable Israel-Palestine conflict,” het Mpumlwana gesê.
Die Suid-Afrikaanse afvaardiging van regslui het op 11 Januarie hulle saak gestel by die Internasionale Geregshof in Den Haag. Hulle het aangevoer dat Israel ’n bedoeling het om volksmoord te pleeg in Gasa.
Israel het die aantygings van volksmoord verwerp en gesê dat hulle die internasionale reg respekteer en die reg het om hulle land te verdedig, het Reuters berig.
Lees die volledige SARK-verklaring onderaan hierdie berig.
Lees ook: Elders gelees: ‘Ons kyk met ’n swaar hart na die Heilige Land’ – WRK oor Israel-Hamas-oorlog
Prof Karen Milner, voorsitter van die Suid-Afrikaanse Joodse Raad van Afgevaardigdes (SAJBD), het die regering se keuse om op hierdie wyse betrokke te raak as ’n “publisiteitsfoefie” beskryf, sonder enige geloofwaardigheid. Sy skryf op 31 Desember in ’n verklaring dat die SAJBD die lewensverlies aan beide kante van die Israel-Hamas-oorlog betreur en hulle daarom die regering versoek het om as tussenganger betrokke te raak, maar in stede hiervan het die regering gekies “om kant te kies”.
’n Volskaalse oorlog woed tussen die Israeliese weermag en Hamas, die militante Palestynse groep, sedert laasgenoemde se aanval op Israel op 7 Oktober waarin sowat 1 300 Israeli’s vermoor en meer as 200 gyselaar geneem is, volgens die Israeli weermag. Die dodetal in Gasa was teen Desember sowat 19 000, waarvan 8 000 kinders was luidens ’n verklaring deur ’n ekumeniese Suid-Afrikaanse afvaardiging wat Betlehem in Desember besoek het om solidariteit te betoon met Palestynse Christene.
Volledige SARK-verklaring soos uitgereik op Vrydag 12 Januarie 2024:
12 JANUARY 2024
FROM THE DESK OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY, BISHOP MALUSI MPUMLWANA
MEDIA STATEMENT
SOUTH AFRICA’S TESTIMONY AT THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Yesterday the Dept of Justice and the legal representatives of the South African Government made a gripping and hair-raising presentation in their testimony before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This is a landmark case that is set to occasion a conscientious, humanitarian dispensation for the distressed Palestinian population of Gaza, and ultimately for an internationally acceptable political solution for the intractable Israel-Palestine conflict. It is to end the pain of murderous violence, and help towards the establishment of lasting peace with justice, guaranteeing dignity and security for all – Palestinians and Israelis.
The South African team demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the pursuit of the rights of Palestinians to live; to be relieved of the perpetual bombardments that are to date reported to be about 65 000 tonnes, about three times the power of the nuclear bomb that America lobbed on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. They sought a respite from the deadly firepower that was targeted on refugee shelters, and to destroy hospitals with new-borns mindlessly mashed in the rubble; sweeping out ambulances in the streets, flattening schools, universities, churches, mosques, and relief from snipers that targeted aged women sheltering in Catholic convents in Gaza. This is not even a matter of proportional retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, but as was demonstrated in the South African submission, this is clearly and patently an agenda for genocide and ethnic cleansing.
South Africa sought to secure an immediate ceasefire and to enable the urgent entry of humanitarian aid, for health services to receive basic supplies, and also, so as to stop the horror of conducting surgery and caesarean sections on women without anaesthetics. They stood up for the urgent space for families and neighbourhoods to dig through the rubble to unearth those who have perished and are unaccounted for, and whose remains will still need a modicum of dignity in burial – a most basic of human need even in such undignified circumstances of death.
In short, the South African case was to render the Palestinian people of Gaza to be free of fear, of terror, of humiliation, bombings and bullets, and free to count the losses of lives in their families, and grieve without being the next target of a sniper’s bullet; to grieve, and grieve, and just grieve everything they have lost. The words of Prophet Isaiah are most apt for such a time:
“So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene.” (Isaiah 59:14-16).
We salute the South African Government for the courage to intervene, and to seek to restore the international checks and balances. This is not just about Israel and Palestine; it is about the future of international law governing war, peace, territorial occupation and the future of the management of the global relationships in times of conflict. If the existing mechanisms and protocols are only applied when convenient for some and not at other times, the global systems will collapse and the jungle rule of survival of the fittest will be the norm.
The world cannot, in good conscience, allow the Israeli atrocities to go unchallenged; and the world cannot let the established mechanisms of the management of global conflict and disputes be collapsed at the altar of the whims of powerful countries.
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