Chairperson, from the perspective of the ACDP, the agenda for the portfolio committee visit to Gaza and later Palestine and Israel, heavily favoured a pro-Palestine and anti-Israel sector of society on all three legs of the visit.
The ACDP had hoped that despite the unlevelled playing field in terms of material presented to the committee, the parliamentary committee delegation would have the courage to commit to a greater degree of balance in reporting and proposing resolutions. Like the ANC and Palestine, the ACDP is known to have a similar sense of solidarity when it comes to Israel due to our mutual biblical history with Israel and the disputed territory.
With this in mind, we chose not to regard the ANC's proposal as being out of hand and tried to find a way to bring some balance. No compromise, however, was forthcoming and the ACDP was unable to support the resulting report. A report which, we believe, does not help stakeholders to move closer to a peaceful solution, but takes sides confirming active solidarity with Palestine and positioning South Africa against Israel. Thank you.