Saharawi delegates take part in the Extraordinary Congress of the Polisario Front (PF) at the Sahrawi refugee camp of Dakhla. Members of the international community must support the struggles of the Sahrawis and Palestinians until they win freedom. None of us can truly be free while there are still those struggling under the yoke of colonialism, in occupations that become increasingly brutal over time, the writer says. – Picture: Farouk Batiche / AFP
By Shannon Ebrahim
South Africa’s foreign policy is premised on our values and principles, key amongst which is the right to resist illegal colonial occupation and to realise self-determination. This is a right provided for by the United Nations and is one of the most significant gains of post-World War II international law.
The failed decolonisation of Western Sahara – the last colony on the African continent – and the continued illegal occupation of Palestine have eroded the rules-based international order. These struggles for self-determination have been fought for decades – Palestine for over 75 years, and Western Sahara since 1963.
It is incumbent on members of the international community to support the struggles of the Sahrawis and Palestinians until they realise their freedom. None of us can truly be free while there are still those struggling under the yoke of colonialism, in occupations that become increasingly brutal over time. On its support for these struggles, South Africa has found itself on the right side of history.
The UN Charter defines self-determination as essential for strengthening universal peace. It deems the process of liberation irresistible and irreversible and argues for an end to colonialism and all practices of segregation and discrimination. The UN’s inability, however, to enforce the prohibition of territorial aggression, prolonged occupation, and settler colonialism, has become a major impediment to the realisation of Palestinian and Sahrawi self-determination.
The struggles of the Sahrawis and the Palestinians intersect on many levels, with both having experienced a total disregard by their occupying powers for UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, which have called for an end to their military occupation. UNSC Resolution 242 of 1967 called for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders. Similarly, UNSC Resolution 380 of 1975 called for Morocco to withdraw from Western Sahara. UN General Assembly Resolution 35 of 1980 referred to Morocco as an occupying power, as have countless UN resolutions on Palestine.
Despite these resolutions, global powers have done little, if anything, to put pressure on the occupying powers to adhere to UN resolutions, thereby enabling their intransigence. For decades Morocco has succeeded in obstructing and disregarding UN resolutions with total impunity. Even though UN Security Council members backed the 2003 James Baker Peace Plan for Western Sahara, no UN member state compelled the Moroccan government to abide by any democratic process that could result in independence for Western Sahara.
Similarly, a plethora of UN resolutions have called on Israel not only to withdraw to the 1967 borders, but to cease illegal settlement construction, and adhere to international law. In 2004, the International Court of Justice called for the dismantlement of what has become known as the apartheid wall, but all these rulings and resolutions have been ignored. Once again, there has been no sanction from members of the international community for the failure to heed these resolutions, severely damaging the credibility of the post-World War II rules-based international order.
In the face of international inaction, the legitimate representatives of the Sahrawis and the Palestinians – the Polisario Front and the PLO – both declared statehood respectively from Algiers. The Polisario Front declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on February 21, 1976, and the PLO declared the State of Palestine on November 15, 1988. They have both been supported by their respective regional organisations – the PLO by the League of Arab States, and the Polisario by the OAU and then the African Union.
Both liberation movements have received unstinting support from countries with liberation backgrounds, and South Africa expressed its solidarity for both peoples since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Our commitment to these struggles for self-determination is non-negotiable and unwavering, which is why we have taken tangible steps to support these causes in the face of very real pressure from global powers to water down our approach or abandon it altogether.
Growing oppression, human rights violations, and continuing territorial conquest on the part of the occupying powers in these two illegal occupations have led to frustration which has made the status quo simply untenable.
The Polisario Front was so frustrated by the UN Security Council’s inability to impose a just solution and fulfil its obligations of holding a referendum in Western Sahara on self-determination, that it once again resorted to armed struggle – which it has the right to do under the UN Charter as a colonised people.
On November 13, 2020, the Sahrawis abandoned the regional spiral of UN-led processes that never resulted in a referendum and resumed the armed struggle which saw the collapse of the ceasefire. The Sahrawis rejected the notion of autonomy being touted by Morocco as they felt that it would have legitimised the occupation, just as the Palestinians had felt that the Oslo Accords would have legitimised their occupation.
Just as with the Sahrawis, the Palestinian Intifadas and attempts at armed resistance have emerged out of the boiling frustration of the people who cannot continue to live under siege and as second-class citizens in their land. The raft of apartheid legislation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the brutal physical oppression experienced daily, and the speed at which land is being illegally annexed in violation of UN resolutions and international law have brought about a loss of faith in a negotiated settlement. The UN has expressly affirmed the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli military occupation, including through armed struggle.
Both the Palestinians and the Sahrawis have been confronted by occupying powers that are intent on changing the demographic composition of the two territories by adopting policies of colonisation and forcible appropriation of land. Over 700,000 Israeli settlers, or 10 percent of Israel’s population, have been encouraged to move onto Palestinian land, which is illegal under international law. Israel’s apartheid wall extends 708 km, encroaching deep into Palestinian land.
Morocco has also encouraged investment projects and settlement in occupied Western Sahara. Morocco built its own wall in the 1980s called the Berm, stretching 2,700 km and manned by over 160,000 military personnel, and reinforced with 10 million landmines. Both the Berm and Israel’s apartheid wall are a humanitarian crime.
The realisation of self-determination in both Palestine and Western Sahara is essential to the effective functioning of the international system. Failure of the international community to assume its responsibility and fulfil its obligations to these peoples will lead to more violence, threatening international peace and security. South Africa will continue to push for the liberation of Palestine and Western Sahara in keeping with our obligation as a responsible member of the international community.
* Shannon Ebrahim is a senior manager at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The African