Al-Qalam 
By Al Qalam Reporter
Feisty Palestinian political activist, Ms Lema Nazeeh (31) of Ramallah in the West Bank, will be a keynote speaker in Durban when she arrives to participate in the 15th international #IsraeliApartheidWeek (IAW) event to be held across South Africa from April1-7.
Lubna Nadvi, Acting Durban representative for IAW 2019, told Al Qalam that dates and venues of her Durban visit are currently being finalised and would be announced soon.
Nazeeh, a firebrand lawyer who also defends Palestinian political prisoners, is deputy chairperson of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC), which operates in Occupied Palestinian Territories.
As a political activist who actively resists the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, she is a thorn in the flesh of the Israeli authorities.
Nazeeh was herself arrested four times in the last three years, the most recent being when she joined a peaceful protest against Israel’s plan to confiscate lands of al-Jahalin Bedouin tribe in east Jerusalem.
Nazeeh specialises in detainees’ rights, in litigation related to land entitlement as well as coordination of media campaigns.
She and other leaders of the popular resistance are constantly threatened by Israeli authorities that carry out political arrests of Palestinian activists on charges of preparing or participating in terrorist attacks. The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails reached 4700 people in 2013, out of which 169 were held in prison without trial or any charges, following administrative detention procedure.
Meanwhile, the theme for this year’s 15th international #IsraeliApartheidWeek (IAW) will be Africa for Palestine”. The event is being held simultaneous in other African countries including Zambia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Kenya and Mozambique.
The campaign will focus on, among other things, the historic relationship between African liberation struggles and that of the Palestinians.
An IAW spokesman said: “The PLO and Palestinians has long been a friend to African liberation movements and countries, having provided us with military training, financial resources and various other forms of support and solidarity in our fight against Apartheid and other anti-Colonial struggles. Israel, on the other hand, has supported oppressive regimes and violent groups on the continent.”
#IsraeliApartheidWeek (IAW) is an international series of self-organized rallies, protests, lectures, cultural performances, concerts, sports events, films and workshops held annually in over 250 cities, communities and campuses across the globe.
