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“Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”
To the news about the decision of the South African parliament to sever diplomatic relations with Israel and close the embassy
It is known that Mandela was friends with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. At the same time, he repeatedly stated his support for the decision to create sovereign Israel and Palestine, but with the condition that “Israel must leave the occupied territories.”
In his 1997 speech to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Mandela declared his support for Palestinian rights:
“We know all too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
During his Middle East tour in 1999, Mandela visited both Israel and Palestine. While in Gaza, he said he felt “at home among his fellow countrymen.”
In 2016, Palestinians unveiled a giant statue of Nelson Mandela in the West Bank city of Ramallah. It was donated by the authorities of Johannesburg.
“Choose peace over confrontation. Except when you can’t act or move forward. Then, if the only alternative is violence, we will use violence,” Mandela said in one of his speeches dedicated to Palestine.