Question NW3526 to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Reply:

South Africa and Palestine are currently working on formulating practical strategies towards taking up the Palestinian cause to the ICC and ICJ to declare Israel as an apartheid state. South Africa will directly petition the ICJ to give advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

On the continental level, South Africa was instrumental in lobbying for Israel to not being granted an observer status to the African Union. In February 2023, South Africa welcomed the suspension of Israel’s observer status at the African Union. South Africa objected against the unilateral granting of official observer status by the Chairperson African Union (AU) Commissioner, on 22 July 2021. This action came at a time when the Israeli oppression became more brutal, the oppressed people of Palestine were and are subjected to bombardments and continued illegal settlements on their land, further hampering any efforts to the peace process.

On the global level, South Africa supports Palestinian efforts for membership of the United Nations and the creation of positive, credible, and lasting international mechanisms to address the Palestinian cause based on international law.

On the domestic level, the South African Parliament voted on 7 March 2023 in favour of a motion to downgrade its Embassy in Israel, to a Liaison Office. Since the recall of South Africa’s Ambassador to Tel Aviv in 2018, the South African Embassy in Israel has been headed by a Charge d’ Affaires.