Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Holy Land

Source: Jewish Voice for Peace/ICN

Jewish Voice For Peace writes: A Nobel Peace Prize laureate and religious leader in the South African anti-apartheid movement, Tutu fought tirelessly for the liberation of his people and others oppressed by colonialism and apartheid, including Palestinians. He attributed the fall of apartheid in South Africa in large part to boycott and foreign economic pressure tactics that nonviolently isolated and exacted a cost on the government.

After visiting Palestine and drawing parallels between the apartheid conditions there and in his homeland, he became a staunch advocate for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

While he criticized Israeli apartheid, Tutu expressed consistent love, respect, and compassion for Jews, both in the diaspora and in Israel. He sympathized with the injustices in Jewish history, raised his voice against antisemitism, and observed the disproportionately large number of Jews involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He was concerned about the physical and moral wellbeing of Israelis; though he believed Israeli apartheid harmed Palestinians first and foremost, he thought that it dehumanized Israelis too, and that apartheid would never keep Israelis truly safe.

Many establishment Jewish organizations over the years have condemned Tutu or, like the Anti-Defamation League, even gone as far as to surveil him - even as they have paid lip service to supporting his activism against South African apartheid. But we celebrated every aspect of his legacy and worked with him while he was alive, and his memory will be for a blessing to us as we continue to work for Palestinian liberation after his passing.

Some of Archbishop Tutu's statements on Israel and Palestine follow:

"I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of apartheid."

"Israel will never get true security and safely through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately only be built on justice."

"My concern is also what the Israelis are doing to themselves. They are not aware that when you carry out dehumanising policies, those policies dehumanize the perpetrator."

"My voice has always been raised against the anti semitism that all sensible people fear and detest. But this cannot be an excuse for doing nothing and for standing aside as successive Israeli governments colonise the West Bank and advance racist laws."

"In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews."

"Nelson Mandela famously said that South Africans would not feel free until Palestinians were free. He might have added that the liberation of Palestine will liberate Israel too."

"Why are our memories so short? Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?"

"Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of 'normalcy' in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo."

"What is not justified is what Israel did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa."

LINK

Jewish Voice For Peace - https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/