Orchestrated effort to extract Palestinians from Gaza under investigation by South Africa
South Africa says it will not accept any more flights similar to the one that arrived from Gaza last week. South Africa’s foreign minister says these flights are part of a broader agenda to clear Palestinians out of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“Officials say they are investigating what the minister of international relations and cooperation has described as an orchestrated effort to extract people from the territory,” says Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Johannesburg.
Fathima, one of the Palestinian refugees, said they arrived in Johannesburg on a flight organised by a company called Al-Majd Europe, which has been linked to the Israeli government.
The family paid thousands of dollars for the trip, not knowing their final destination until they landed in Kenya and were transferred onto another plane.
Palestinian FM warns against involvement in ‘illegal’ Al-Majd flights out of Gaza
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin has said that controversial flights carrying Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa, organised by Al-Majd Europe, are part of an illegal ethnic cleansing process.
She has warned Palestinians not to get involved with the organisation or other groups seeking to remove them from the Strip.
“Not enough is known about this organisation … but we are investigating, and we are getting several sources of information on the illegality of what they are doing,” she told reporters after a bilateral meeting in Manila with the Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Theresa Lazaro.
“What they are doing is actually displacement and part of the ethnic cleansing process. We need to send very strong messages to the people of Gaza not to have any dealings with Al-Majd or any other company doing the same kind of work.”
