Johannesburg – The South African government appears to have adopted a firm stance against allowing further charter flights carrying Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip to land in the country. This decision follows a recent request from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to charter companies seeking to transport thousands of Palestinians to South Africa.
According to sources within the charter-flight industry in Dubai, the latest request for flights to South Africa made it clear that the Israeli government, with support from the US, is guaranteeing payment for the flights. This initiative is viewed by some as an extension of Israel’s plan to remove as many Palestinians as possible from the Gaza Strip through so-called “voluntary migration”.
Na’eem Jeenah, a senior researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, stated that he had heard that more flights to South Africa were being planned. Both he and Imtiaz Sooliman from Gift of the Givers had to scramble after the first flights to help accommodate the refugees. In many cases, the people were not even aware of which country they were being taken to.
The South African government was reportedly unaware of the two charter flights full of Palestinian refugees who were brought to South Africa last month from Israel via Nairobi in Kenya. Unlike the previous flights, the charter aircraft will reportedly load the Palestinians in Jordan.
In the meantime, Gift of the Givers is caring for the first two groups of Palestinians who arrived in South Africa. According to Imtiaz Sooliman, they are accommodating the refugees in private residences offered by members of the public. Some have already departed to other countries where they have family, and Gift of the Givers has provided plane tickets for those who could not afford them.
“The first three families applying are going to the department’s refugee centre at 6am on Monday," Sooliman said. “We have a legal team on standby to take home affairs to court if they fail to follow their own procedures, which they should already have complied with upon the arrival of the second group."
Sooliman says that after the first two flights, he spelt it out to “Luthuli House, Dirco [the department of international relations and cooperation] and others that no further aircraft should be allowed to land in South Africa”.
An ANC member and staunch Muslim also told Rapport that the intended ethnic cleansing in Gaza has for some time been discussed in local Muslim circles. Israel’s plans to gradually depopulate the Gaza Strip are drawing sharp criticism from the international community, and in South Africa, the Muslim community is not in favour of Palestinians being resettled here. South Africa’s Muslim community is a close-knit and largely peaceful unit that does not tolerate radicals, the ANC member said. An unregulated inflow of war-traumatised and possibly radicalised refugees could disrupt that peacefulness.
Rapport made enquiries with some of the companies in Dubai that were approached for quotations for flights. One confirmed that it had received a request, adding that it was not aware of any operator that had agreed to this.
Aviation companies with aircraft registered outside South Africa must apply to the local department of transport for a foreign operator permit before they can land in the country. It is understood that a firm barrier has been put in place at the transport department to block further flights even before they set off.
The previous two flights from Nairobi were able to circumvent this process because they were handled by a South African aviation operator, Global Airways.
None of the relevant government departments would respond to City Press’ sister publication Rapport’s enquiries about the handling of further flights with Palestinian refugees. Dirco referred Rapport’s enquiries to home affairs. The latter referred Rapport to the department of transport, which said the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) handles enquiries. GCIS had not responded to enquiries by the time of publication.
“[What the minister (Leon Schreiber) does not appreciate is that once legal proceedings are instituted, the rules of court apply in full. The recent amendments obligate both parties to participate in mediation. He will not be able to avoid engagement indefinitely because the rules require him to enter a structured mediation process with us."
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