Speech by Cheryllyn Dudley MP ACDP
Being pro Palestine and pro Palestinian people has got to mean more than condoning religious fanaticism in the form of Islamic extremism
Palestinian and Israeli people have no future unless it is a shared future - South Africa’s foreign policy must protect life, promote peace and support development
Chair,
South Africa’s engagement with the world has been increasing since 1994. We host the second largest number of foreign representation in the world with 125 missions abroad, covering 180 countries and the minimal budget the department operates on year after year is even more stretched by unpredictable and often unstable circumstances externally. The ACDP applauds the department’s efforts but has called for an audit on missions and an assessment of whether all missions are essential to the broader goals and objectives.
Having once again interrogated the budget alongside colleagues on the committee the ACDP will be supporting this budget with all its constraints and challenges.
There are so many issues the ACDP would like to speak to today – many of which the Minister and others have touched on like the young women from Nigeria whose whereabouts are still unknown and – the DA’s shameful opposition to a resolution promoting and protecting family, making the issue something that it is not.
I will use my few minutes, to express appreciation for the discipline shown by our President, the Minister and her department - and the Portfolio Committee - in resisting the temptation to add to the one-sided condemnation of Israel at this time. Without a doubt government will be between a rock and a hard place right now because no matter how personal this is, they cannot ‘unknow’ what they know about both sides. Being pro Palestine and pro Palestinian people has got to mean more than condoning religious fanaticism in the form of Islamic extremism and covering for those who so ruthlessly use and abuse their own. This same Islamic extremism is destabilising Africa and is a huge threat globally.
Yes – let’s fight for the rights and freedoms of Palestinian People – and for the rights of those in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq – but let’s fight for life and not death and let’s be sure who the oppressors actually are!
The ANC have expressed themselves on the issue through their National Executive and their Parliamentary Caucas and in time the Parliamentary Committee is likely to want to express itself as well. War is a terrible thing and the ACDP is grieved by the loss of life and terrible anguish families on both sides of this tragedy are facing at this time.
The ACDP notes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday at a news conference in Berlin said: "Both sides must accept painful compromises but we stand by the side of Israel when it comes to self-defence.” Merkel said that there was a "new quality" to weapons used by the Palestinian territory's Hamas group against Israel and added that countries under attack must be allowed to defend themselves.
For Israel – and the world - the most dangerous weapon in Gaza is not the M-302 rockets that have put millions of Israelis under the direct threat of terror - it is the ideology of Hamas – ideology that is focused on destruction – Israel’s destruction and then who next? We note Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal’s statement that “before Israel dies it must be humiliated and degraded.”
Something the media and the anti-Israel chorus don’t mention is that the Kassam rockets actually rained down on Israel for more than a week before the Israeli military finally responded. Every innocent civilian killed, regardless on which side, is tragic – all the more tragic though - when it is a goal knowingly pursued by Hamas to protect its weapons and to gain international legitimacy as victims.
Regardless of my opinion and your opinion – or the opinion of the ANC or the ACDP - South Africa’s foreign policy in this regard must protect life, promote peace and support development. Palestinian people and Israeli people have no future unless it is a shared future and the help South Africa must give is to help both peoples find a way to do this.
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