The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Anna Majavu -
Amongst the audience in Parliament’s public gallery for President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) was a Palestinian freedom icon who carried with her the hopes of all Palestinians that the ANC government would begin making moves towards cutting ties with Israel.
Leila Khaled, a decades-long leader in exile of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was in South Africa, as a guest of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa movement....
In response to last year's Gaza conflict, the Israeli government announced the construction of further settlements in the West Bank. The expansion of the settlements has consumed privately owned Palestinian land, causing the destruction of Palestinian homes, produce, and livelihoods. Despite Israeli settlements taking up only 1% of land in the West Bank, they now exert control over 42%, with settlement boundaries often 10 times larger than the settlements themselves. VICE News traveled to...
Sweden's new centre-left government announced this week that it has recognised the Palestinian state, making it the first EU country to do so. Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, told Al Jazeera that recognising Palestine will put each party on a level playing field and help move peace talks forward. She said that Sweden is hoping that this new development will inject some new dynamics into the now-suspended peace talks by making the parties less unequal. Wallstrom also said she...
Jamie Stern-Weiner -
On October 13, 2014, British MPs voted 274 to 12 to recognise the State of Palestine. The abstention rate was high—just 286 of 650 MPs voted—in part because in accordance with convention government ministers abstained, in part because the Labour leadership demanded that those of its MPs who showed up vote ‘yes’ (and thus, a substantial minority did not show up), and in part because most Tory MPs were absent.
By my count, the vote broke down as follows.1 Of 56...
The Boycott, Divestments, Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel has embarked on a more visible programme of activism in South Africa. On Saturday, August 30, more than 40 actions were staged throughout the country. Retail giant Woolworths is being targeted for its refusal to stop stocking Israeli products from occupied Palestine. The BDS campaign aims to bring greater awareness to the plight of Palestinians in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and peacefully demand a solution to the...
In February this year, SACSIS interviewed Middle East expert, Na'eem Jeenah about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The discussion covered important ground, which we believe is worth revisiting in light of Israel's current attack on Gaza. Jeenah weighs in on the one-state/two-state debate arguing that freedom for Palestinians is a long way off, as it isn't in Israel's interest to fast-track peace talks. "The Israelis are...making a one-state solution the only possible solution. But...
