The Foreign Affairs Minister of South Africa, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, compared the Israeli occupation of Palestine to the racial discrimination and apartheid in her country years ago.
News agencies reported that she said "The Palestinians' struggle is our struggle."
In a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, she instructed her staff in the South African ministerial council not to visit Israel. She reportedly said "We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better."
Agence France Press also quoted her criticizing illegal settlement of Israelis in eastern Jerusalem, saying "The last time I saw a map of Palestine, I could not go to sleep. It is just dots, smaller than those of the homelands, and that broke my heart."
Last June, the former South African ambassador to Israel, Ismail Coovadia, said the Israeli occupation of Palestine was reminiscent of the "apartheid era."
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