JOHANNESBURG: South Africa said the surprise arrival of 153 Palestinians on a plane last week indicated “a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians” out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The group landed in Johannesburg on a chartered flight on Thursday without departure stamps from Israel in their passports. Reports said a shadowy organisation named Al-Majd was involved in their travel from Gaza.
“We are suspicious, as the South African government, about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters. South African border police kept the group on the plane for 12 hours before President Cyril Ramaphosa allowed them entry on a standard 90-day visa exemption. It emerged later that a first plane carrying 176 Palestinians had arrived on October 28, according to the local Gift of the Givers charity that is assisting the arrivals. “We do not want any further flights to come our way because this is a clear agenda to cleanse out Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank and those areas, which South Africa is against,” Lamola said. — AFP
