South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor called on Wednesday to hold ‘Israel’ accountable for its “destructive actions” against Palestinian people at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
“While we work to address contemporary conflicts, we should not ignore long-standing ones such as Palestine that has been on the United Nations’ agenda throughout the seven decades of existence of the organisation,” Pandor said in her address to the General Assembly.
“We cannot ignore the words of the former Israeli negotiator at the Oslo talks, Daniel Levy, who addressed the UN Security Council recently and referred to, “The increasingly weighty, body of scholarly, legal and public opinion that has designated Israel to be perpetrating apartheid in the territories under its control.””
South Africa’s Foreign Minister added that “Israel must be held accountable for its destructive actions that have significantly impaired the possibility of a two- state solution.”
Pandor also mentioned Israel’s killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, calling “to end the violence perpetrated against the most vulnerable, most often women and children. We have witnessed that women in conflict situations are particularly vulnerable, including women journalists.”
“The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, and others is a stark reminder of the dangers that women in conflict situations face,” Pandor said.
Despite wearing a protective helmet and blue bulletproof vest clearly marked as “PRESS,” the 51-year-old veteran journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the head while she was covering an Israeli military raid into the Jenin refugee camp on May 11, sparking international outrage and calls for accountability for attacks on journalists. The slain journalist covered events and Israeli aggressions in the occupied Palestinian territory for 25 years.
