By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle  

“We’ve woken the people of the world against genocide, against injustice, against lies, against double standards, against the hypocrisy and racism of Western governments.”

Palestinian politician and activist, Mustafa Barghouti, has questioned the role of international law as well as what he calls the hypocrisy of Western governments concerning the ongoing genocidal assault by Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip.

He spoke at the opening session of the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday.

Highlighting the more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7, Barghouti said: “These are not just numbers, each one is a story of a human being.”

“This is 5.3% of the population of Gaza,” Barghouti explained. “Had this happened in the United States of America, you would be talking about 18 million people killed or injured in seven months. That is more than all Americans killed or injured in all American wars since the 18th century.”

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He said what has been witnessed in Gaza is a “terrible destruction of all hospitals, schools, universities, kindergartens – an atrocity that we didn’t see even during the Second World War, or even during the terrible crime of apartheid here in South Africa.”

Rise of Global Movement

So “the world now must ask the question, where is international law?” Barghouti stressed. “Where are the human rights that they’ve been trying to educate us about? Where is international law when the Congress of the United States of America needs to issue a law to punish the members of the International Court of Justice if they try to impose international law?”

He added: “We are not talking about Palestine here, we are talking about the global order of the world.”

The member of the Palestinian Legislative Council said the world is seeing “the rise of a global movement in support of the freedom of Palestine.”

“We’ve woken the people of the world against genocide, against injustice, against lies, against double standards, against the hypocrisy and racism of Western governments.”

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Dehumanizing Crimes

He also said Palestinians “will not forget, we will not forgive the fact that they tried to dehumanize us … to justify all these crimes.”

“We will not forget what they have done … field executions, putting people in concentration camps, torture, beatings…We will not forget that they did not allow families to bury their beloved after being killed in dignity.”

Barghouti said the war has “brought the knowledge, brought the understanding back to minds of every Palestinians and every human being that believes in human rights in this world that what we face is not just occupation, is not just a system of apartheid that is the worst in human history.”

Adding “It’s not just the longest occupation in modern history, it’s more than that, it’s an evil plan for settler colonial system with genocidal intention and practice – that is what we face.”

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‘We Will Decide How It Ends’

He also said, “Israel initiated this tragedy, initiated this war but Israel will not be the one who decides how it ends, we will.”

Various other speakers addressed the conference on the first day including Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation; Reverend Frank Chikane, moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs for the World Council of Churches; Declan Kearney, chairperson of Sinn Fein; and Ronnie Kasrils, former South African Minister of Intelligence.

Rev Munther Isaacs speaks at the opening session of the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday, May 10.

At the end of this video Dr Munther symbolically places the kuffiyah around the shoulders of South African Minister Naledi… pic.twitter.com/LgNlIoBSiP

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 11, 2024

The conference is being attended by delegations from across the globe, representing civil societies, religious institutions and Palestinian solidarity movements. Various workshops aimed at developing strategies for action are lined up for Day 2.

(Palestine Chronicle)