Hamas urges AU to reject Israel's observer status

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Friday urged member states attending the African Union (AU) Summit, slated for 5 and 6 February, to reject granting observer status to Israel, a statement has announced.

Hamas stated that Israel: “Has practised, and is still practising, state terrorism, and systematically commits all kinds of crimes against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites.”

In its statement, Hamas also noted that Israel “adopts a policy of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination,” affirming that many international rights groups have proven this. A recent example was the Amnesty International report, which described Israel as “an apartheid system”.

The Islamic movement also expressed:

The Israeli occupation state violates international law and international humanitarian law and refuses to implement international resolutions or adhere to the recommendations of the United Nations committees that investigated its crimes.

Report: 14 countries to form block against Israel’s membership of African Union  

Hamas noted that granting Israel official observer status at the AU is a: “Flagrant violation of the African Charter on Human Rights and the principles and values of the AU and its statute, which provides for the rejection and combating of racism, decolonisation and the right to self-determination of peoples.”

Concluding its statement, Hamas called on: “All the free people of the African continent to declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to do their best to thwart the reinstatement of the racist occupying power to the AU, whose principles and objectives stipulate combating colonialism and racial discrimination.”

This came at the same time as Algeria spearheading a motion to revoke the decision made by the AU to grant Israel observer status.

Accepting Israel as an observer member state at the AU has divided the African nations, as some accept it while others reject it.

Opinion: Why doesn’t the West accept that Israel is an ‘apartheid’ state?