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Writes Lovemore Chazingwa
The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Zimbabwe has expressed profound gratitude and, at the same time, humbled by the bold move South Africa took on the ongoing onslaught by Israel on the Palestinian people.
Palestine Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency (H.E) Dr Tamer Almassri revealed this in a solicited interview at the embassy offices in Harare on Wednesday.
“The Palestinian people highly appreciate the South African action and that of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). I think it reflects the South African values and experience of pain under the apartheid regime. South Africa didn’t ignore their history neither did they betray their principles. That country is one of the greatest friends of Palestine in the world, just like Zimbabwe.
We highly appreciate the political and diplomatic actions that were taken by the South African Government since the beginning of the war.
“To upgrade the efforts and to go to ICJ takes the Israeli crimes and genocide to another level. Now, for the first time, Israel is being accused in the international court, which it used to escape from the responsibility of war crimes. The superiority stance and defence taken by some colonial powers led by the United States worsened matters.
“The SA action gives the international community a brief about the crimes in the Gaza Strip and all of Palestine. It highlights the missed justice in Palestine because Israel continues with its occupation without question or punishment,” Ambassador Almassri said.
On the role of the church, Amb Almassri was diplomatic with underlying spite.
“Palestine is the Holy Land that has the anals of Jesus birth place. We say Jesus is Palestinian. Unfortunately, the Christian community in Palestine suffers under the Israeli settler regime. The regime targets all the Christian symbols and they burn churches, humiliating bishops together with their followers who bring symbols to Jerusalem. It shows how much Israelis are extremists.
“Despite that, we don’t see the international churches standing bravely and strongly against what is happening. We didn’t see the international community’s condemnation of the Israelis as in the way they would do if it were the Israelis who were attacked. They attacked the third oldest church in the world in Gaza, The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius. There is no balance in the treatment between the two states.
“Let me be quick to mention that we have great voices from individual churches in Britain, South Africa Italy, the United States, and Zimbabwe. However, what is more preferable is a united voice by the church condemning the Israeli genocide.”