Mandela's Grandson Leads Palestine Solidarity March

Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, South African member of parliament and Nelson Mandela's grandson, led thousands of South Africans on 13 October in Cape Town to rally support for Palestinians over the most recent Israel-Hamas conflict. He encouraged South Africans to stand in solidarity with Palestinians because they supported Black South Africans in the fight for liberation against apartheid. He also called for the South African government to cancel the flight permits of Israeli national air carrier El-Al. South Africa has close relations with Palestine. It established full diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine on 15 February 1995. Nelson Mandela toured Gaza in 1999 and urged Israel to withdraw from all the areas it occupied after the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states, and in particular to withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, from south Lebanon and from the West Bank.