The Pan African Palestine Solidarity Network (PASN) concluded its first strategy meeting and conference in Dakar, Senegal, hosted by Amnesty International Senegal.
Activists from 21 African countries gathered in a historic gathering to deliberate, reflect and build a continent-wide solidarity movement with the Palestinian people.
After two days of rich discussions, our commitment to the Palestinian struggle was reaffirmed in a spirit of unity and camaraderie.
We were inspired by first-hand accounts from leading Palestinian activists of the resilience of the Palestinian people and their resistance, and by their call for the international community to call out Israel’s apartheid regime and exert the greatest pressure on the Israeli apartheid state through boycotts, sanctions, and for its effective isolation, until the Palestinian people are victorious in the struggle for their national rights and liberation (return of refugees, end of apartheid and colonial occupation).
We welcome Amnesty International’s recent report, which corroborates previous reports by numerous Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations, as well as UN structures and prominent figures, all of which provide evidence that exposes Israel as guilty of the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.
This is seven decades of occupation during which Israel’s policies of apartheid and colonialism have continuously brutalized the Palestinian people.
The meeting discussed solidarity with Palestine in Africa and deliberated on the penetration of Israeli apartheid on the continent, which is reflected in the shameful accreditation of Israel as an observer to the African Union in July 2021.
This follows increasing military cooperation between Israel and some African regimes whose arms purchases finance Israel’s genocidal practices against Palestinians and fuel repression and wars in Africa.
Israeli sales of military hardware and surveillance and security technologies such as Pegasus spyware to various African governments undermine democracy and the rights of the people of our continent.
Israel attempts to whitewash its apartheid crimes by selling irrigation equipment and agricultural technology to African countries. In fact, these projects are not sustainable and are destructive to local communities.
We also discussed the disturbing influence of Christian Zionism in Africa, which seeks to provide theological justification for Israel’s apartheid crimes.
Delegates resolved to strengthen the Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network (PASN) by mobilizing all sectors of society on our continent to build a militant campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and to ensure that Africa becomes an apartheid-free zone.
We commit ourselves to counter Israel’s ‘hasbara’ (state propaganda) machinery and its exploitation of theories of Christian Zionism to justify its apartheid and colonization practices.
We demand that our governments, the Regional Economic Communities and the African Union
– Revoke Israel’s accreditation to the AU;
– Recognize Israel as an apartheid state and press the UN to investigate Israel’s apartheid practices and reactivate its anti-apartheid mechanisms;
– Immediately end the purchase of all Israeli military and surveillance technology;
– End agro-industrial and water projects with Israeli companies;
– End diplomatic relations with Israel;
And thus pave the way for Israel’s isolation from the world, just as apartheid South Africa was isolated.
From all corners of our vast continent – from Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the delegates who gathered in Dakar are united in revolutionary solidarity with the Palestinian people.
We are convinced that we Africans can never enjoy the fruits of our liberation until the Palestinian people are also liberated from racism, apartheid and Israel’s colonial occupation.
We will strengthen our network and mobilize all the peoples of our continent, especially women and youth, to strengthen our solidarity with the just struggles and resistance of the Palestinian people. –
Cde Mafa Kwanisai Mafa, the National Chairman of the Zimbabwe Palestine Solidarity Council attended the conference. ZPSC is an umbrella body that coordinates all Palestine Solidarity activities and groups in Zimbabwe.
