JOHANNESBURG (Anadolu) – The Zionist regime’s influence in Africa – including that of obtaining observer status at the African Union, the largest political organization in the continent – has enraged many pro-Palestinian campaigners.
Activists from across Africa met in Senegal’s capital Dakar last month to mobilize support for the Palestinian liberation struggle under the theme “From Africa to Palestine, United Against Apartheid.”
Activists at the conference reaffirmed Africa’s historic position on Palestine and the unbreakable bond between Africans and Palestinians who share a common struggle against occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
The occupying regime’s diplomatic ties on the continent have been viewed by experts as something that might affect the support Palestine has been enjoying on the continent for decades.
“The apartheid Israeli regime has tried to infiltrate the African continent but has failed. Instead, there is an increase in Palestine solidarity efforts across the length and breadth of the continent,” Muhammad Desai, director of Africa 4 Palestine, a human rights organization based in South Africa, told Anadolu Agency in a telephone interview.
Iqbal Jassat, an executive at the Johannesburg-based think tank Media Review Network, said “Palestine in Africa has always enjoyed the status of a leading freedom movement.”
Jassat said the struggle role which earned Palestine a great deal of empathy and support was embodied within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
“The symbolic presence of Yasser Arafat at key events across Africa’s capitals, especially during the continent’s anti-colonial struggle, endeared him and the movement he represented to the people,” he said in an interview.
Jassat said Arafat’s stature as a giant leading Palestine’s freedom struggle was matched by South Africa’s icon Nelson Mandela.
“Regrettably, that era has passed ever since the PLO got enmeshed in the manipulation of America to force it to recognize Israel,” he said, referring to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Arafat founded, adding “not only did this dampen and remove Palestine’s quest for liberation from Africa’s political agenda, it allowed Israel to elbow its way into the continent.”
Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, a South African member of parliament, chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela, was among those who addressed delegates at the Dakar conference.