Palestine: a roadmap to justice

On 17 November, the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq, Al-Haq Europe, and Al-Haq's Center for Applied International Law hosted a roundtable discussion with South Africa-based civil society organisations as part of a broader strategic workshop. The purpose of this workshop was to chart a strategic course for these organisations over the next five years and beyond.

Given the Foundation’s extensive advocacy work on Palestinian rights over the past year, it was invited to participate and contribute to the development of this roadmap to justice and liberation.

Several key initiatives emerged from the collective discussions, drawing parallels to the strategies that shaped South Africa’s own liberation movement and ultimately led to the dismantling of the apartheid regime. Among these were the effectiveness of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, the unwavering international solidarity across diverse sectors — including lawyers, academics, and activists — the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and the critical need for coordinated efforts within the broader movement for peace, justice, and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

Below is a reflection from Wesam Ahmad, a Palestinian human rights advocate and the Head of the Center for Applied International Law, who shares his insights following his recent visit to South Africa.

In reflecting on a recent visit to South Africa, the haunting echoes of colonialism and apartheid emerge as a stark reminder of how settler-colonial projects evolve, intertwining histories across continents. From the systemic racial oppression of apartheid South Africa to the ongoing genocide and dispossession in Palestine, the parallels are striking. These parallels are not coincidental; they are the products of settler-colonial frameworks, driven by the intersecting forces of racialised capitalism, white supremacy, and the imperialist mindset of entitlement and exploitation.

South Africa’s colonial history, spanning centuries, laid the groundwork for institutionalized apartheid. Introduced in 1948, apartheid was not merely a legal framework of racial segregation but a tool of dispossession and economic exploitation aimed at preserving white supremacy. Despite its formal end in 1994, apartheid’s legacies remain entrenched in the stark inequality that defines South Africa today. Land ownership patterns, wealth distribution, and systemic poverty reflect the lingering yoke of colonialism.

In Palestine, the Zionist settler-colonial project operates with striking similarity, albeit in a different temporal and geopolitical context. Since 1948, Israel has systematically displaced Palestinians, stripping them of land, rights, and identity. This project manifests as a matrix of control that includes military occupation, forced displacement and the imposition of discriminatory laws and policies. The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a chilling reminder that apartheid, as a tool of settler-colonialism, adapts to new contexts while retaining its ultimate aim: the erasure of an indigenous population.

One of the unique features of apartheid South Africa was its acknowledged economic interdependency between the settler-colonial state and the exploited native labor force. The mines, farms, and industries of apartheid South Africa thrived on the backs of Black laborers, who were simultaneously dispossessed and essential. In Palestine, this dynamic shifts toward outright exclusion and annihilation. The Zionist project seeks not to exploit Palestinian labor but to erase the Palestinian people entirely, creating a landscape free of indigenous presence.

This divergence underscores the adaptability of settler-colonialism to its context. Yet both projects are united by a reliance on racialized capitalism, which prioritizes the supremacy of one group over another for economic and political dominance. Benjamin Disraeli’s infamous assertion in Tancred — "All is race, there is no other truth" — captures the foundational ideology that drives these systems of oppression.

The evolution of apartheid, in both South Africa and Palestine, is deeply rooted in racialised capitalism and white supremacy. These systems sustain inequality by prioritising the interests of imperial powers and settler-colonial elites over indigenous self-determination. They perpetuate cycles of poverty, dispossession, and violence, ensuring that imperial interests continue to shape the future of oppressed peoples.

In South Africa, the persistence of neoliberal policies has exacerbated inequality, demonstrating how colonial frameworks adapt to new economic paradigms. Similarly, in Palestine, international complicity and economic exploitation reinforce the occupation, ensuring that imperial interests take precedence over Palestinian rights.

Nelson Mandela, whose struggle against apartheid epitomised the global fight for justice, famously declared, “South Africa will never truly be free until Palestine is free.” These words resonate powerfully because they recognise the interconnectedness of struggles against oppression. They affirm that true freedom is not merely the absence of legal apartheid but the dismantling of the systems that sustain inequality and subjugation.

Post-apartheid South Africa demonstrates both progress and limitations. The peaceful transition to democracy and the institutionalization of human rights were remarkable achievements. South Africa’s leadership in bringing Israel before the International Court of Justice for its violations of international law is a testament to its commitment to justice for Palestine. Yet, the unaddressed legacies of colonialism—land dispossession, economic disparity, and systemic poverty—continue to plague South Africa. This underscores that the end of legal apartheid was a milestone, not the destination.

The struggles of South Africans and Palestinians are inextricably linked. As South Africa’s freedom remains incomplete without addressing its colonial legacies, Palestine’s liberation is intertwined with the dismantling of global systems of racialized capitalism and white supremacy. The imperial mindset of entitlement and exploitation must be confronted, not only for justice in Palestine and South Africa but for the broader liberation of all oppressed peoples.

True self-determination means shaping one’s future free from imperial interests. It demands the dismantling of systems that prioritize race above humanity. As Mandela’s vision reminds us, “South Africa will never truly be free until Palestine is free”—and Palestine will not be free until South Africa, too, has shed the enduring chains of colonialism.

In the face of ongoing apartheid in Palestine and the lingering legacies of apartheid in South Africa, the path forward requires solidarity, resistance, and an unyielding commitment to justice. Both peoples’ struggles remind the world that freedom is not a state of being but an evolving journey toward equity, dignity, and self-determination. Only when the structures of racialized oppression are dismantled can true freedom take root.