Stranded Palestinian refugees finally allowed into South Africa… This follows the plane carrying about 160 refugees LS0976 landing at OR Tambo on Thursday morning (Nov 13) shortly before 8am, but were not allowed to disembark because of passport issues.
However with the intervention of Gift of the Givers, who even threatened urgent court action, the passengers were finally allowed to disembark later yesterday evening. Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers, said yesterday, “Thanks to DIRCO (Department of International Relations and Cooperation) DG Zane Dangor, and Minister Ronald Lamola for receiving the Palestinian refugees who arrived on a flight to Johannesburg this morning, with open arms. This is in keeping with South Africa’s policy of standing with Palestine by taking the Terrorist, Genocidal, Apartheid State of Israel to the ICJ, ICC, and garnering a boycott of that country at Bogota. The Border Management Authority acted in accordance with its mandate by not allowing passengers without an exit stamp to disembark. Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country. We are grateful that the Minister of DIRCO took the initiative to write to the Ministry of Home Affairs to waive this requirement, yet this could have been implemented by Home Affairs unilaterally on humanitarian grounds. We thank the South African government for coming to the assistance of the Palestinian people yet again. Gift of the Givers, with other civil society partners, will provide humanitarian assistance to the refugees. We extend our particular gratitude to Nigel Branken, Zaheerah Bham Ismail, Na’eem Jinnah, and the Gift of the Givers teams, who assisted with legal and medical care.”
The plane carrying the Palestinians, which landed in South Africa, follows Israel reportedly starting its plan to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza, with deportation flights already commencing from Ramon Airport, Israel’s interior minister, Moshe Arbel, said on Monday. Arbel announced that more than 16 flights carrying Palestinians from Gaza had departed from Ramon Airport, in what appears to be a state-backed effort to forcibly remove Palestinian residents from the besieged enclave under the guise of “voluntary migration.”
“I can say that this will likely increase in the coming period,” the minister added. He did not, however, specify the aircraft’s size or capacity, the number of passengers from the Gaza Strip, or their destination.