South Africa says it will no longer accept chartered flights carrying Palestinians, following the controversial arrival of 153 passengers from Gaza last Thursday.
Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola described the flights as part of a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank. The passengers, who arrived at OR Tambo International Airport via Nairobi, were initially refused entry and remained on the plane for more than 10 hours before being allowed to disembark. President Cyril Ramaphosa said the decision to admit them was made out of empathy and compassion.
The Palestinian embassy in South Africa said the group left Israel’s Ramon Airport without any prior coordination and accused an unregistered organization of deceiving families and collecting money to facilitate irregular travel. Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza’s crossings, said on Monday that South Africa had previously agreed to receive the Palestinians. However, Minister Lamola insisted the flight appeared to be part of a broader, orchestrated operation to remove Palestinians to different parts of the world. Two weeks earlier, another plane carrying 176 Palestinians had landed in Johannesburg.
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The passengers lacked departure stamps in their passports, which South African authorities cited as the initial reason for refusing entry.
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