National Head Office
Khotso House
62 Marshall Street
Johannesburg
Gauteng Province
South Africa
Tel. +27 (0) 11 241 7800
Fax +27 (0) 11 492 1448
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana. General Secretary, South African Council of Churches
Nakba Day: May 15, 2018
Today, May 15, the people of Palestine mark the day when 70 years ago, they were uprooted from their homes into the status of refugees and statelessness, denied the right of return to their homeland. The South African Council of Churches (SACC), recognizes in sadness, the many lost opportunities since that day, for the creation of a peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine. The reported killing yesterday of no less than 60 people in Gaza, and some 3000 wounded, underscores the gravity of the situation, and the desperate hopelessness that ordinary Palestinian citizens are experiencing.
The deployment of snipers, responsible for the killings, suggests a pre-plan for lethal force against legitimate protests. The invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque precinct in Jerusalem, coinciding with the American decision, not only to effect its decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel, but to do so on the anniversary of Nakba Day for Palestine, is reprehensible in the extreme!
We raise our voice in protest, and extend our hand of solidarity and little comfort for the Palestinian people at this time. We call on peace loving Israeli citizens to stand against these atrocities in their name. We call on South Africans to remember the significant role of the international community in our own quest for peace with justice, and how this enabled our country to find the difficult path to the constitutional democracy we are still walking today.
In our prayers we uphold the grim pastoral and humanitarian responsibility of both the religious institutions and the health workers and aid agencies in the current misery.
We thank the Government of South Africa for acting promptly to express its disapproval of the Gaza massacre, and we call on the international community to join hands with South Africa and other nations to communicate the international displeasure to the State of Israeli in the strongest possible terms.
Every effort must be made to recover the opportunity for peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine, that was lost 70 years ago, and that no act of recklessness should continue to rob the present and future generations of the peace dividend that will make for healthy living between neighbours, with never a Nakba again, not for Palestinians, not for Israelis.
Enquiries: Moagisi Sibanda, SACC Communications Director,
Tel: 082 295 1581; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.