Nelson Mandela: We identify with Palestine, Yasser Arafat is our comrade (1990)

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The above video is a collection of extracts from a 1990 town hall meeting, held in New York City and chaired by Ted Koppel of ABC Networks. The meeting formed part Nelson Mandela's first visit to the USA immediately following his release from prison.

A significant part of the town hall meeting focused on Nelson Mandela's advocating (on behalf of the African National Congress and the larger South African liberation struggle) for sanctions to be applied against Apartheid South Africa, his and the ANC's support for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as well as his close friendship with Yasser Arafat (of Palestine) and Fidel Castro (of Cuba).

The town hall meeting took place in 1990, long before the world had embraced Nelson Mandela as a "giant of justice". However, even then, when it may have been unfashionable and unpopular to support the Palestinians against, what Mandela termed, Israeli "colonialism", Mandela stood firm and resolute on his principles and the policies of the ANC - Mandela was, after all, conveying the long-standing positions held by the ANC and the larger South African liberation movement.
“If one has to refer to any of the parties as a terrorist state, one might refer to the Israeli government, because they are the people who are slaughtering defenseless and innocent Arabs in the occupied [Palestinian] territories, and we don’t regard that as acceptable.”
(Nelson Mandela, 1990)

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""Why are they [the USA] not seeking to confiscate weapons of mass destruction from their ally Israel?"
(Nelson Mandela, 2003)

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"[Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat] is fighting against a unique form of [Israeli] colonialism, and we wish him success in his struggle…if the truth alienates the powerful Jewish community in South Africa, that’s too bad…we expect everybody who is exploring the possibility of lasting solutions to be able to face the truth squarely.”
(Nelson Mandela, 1990)

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"What we know is that Israel has weapons of mass destruction. Nobody talks about that. Why should there be one standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another one for another country, Israel, that is white."
(Nelson Mandela, 2002)

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"I sincerely believe that there are many similarities between our struggle and that of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)."
(Nelson Mandela, 1990)

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"The histories of our two peoples, Palestinian and South African, correspond in such painful and poignant ways"
(Nelson Mandela, 1999)
Source for the quotes: https://ymlp.com/zKJiYw