The struggle for Palestinian rights: Insights from Pieter Kriel's visit to Palestine
Image: X / @pieterkrielorg
As Israel continues its attacks on Palestinians, including weaponised starvation, South African activist Pieter Kriel recently went to the occupied territories to witness the Zionist state's violence in the West Bank, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jerusalem.
"I went to Palestine because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, solidarity demands that we bear witness," Kriel said. "Israel doesn't want eyes on its occupation. We entered on tourist visas and worked closely with local NGOs who guided us through checkpoints and military zones."
The 21-year-old went on the perilous journey with a coalition of South African and Palestinian activists, independent journalists, and worked alongside a UN convoy.
On the Israeli-imposed checkpoints, Kriel said he was humiliated but not at the level a Palestinian would be.
"Even for us, outsiders with passports, privilege, and the option to leave, it was tense and difficult. But for Palestinians, this is daily life. What is a checkpoint for me is a cage for them. What is an inconvenience for us is an unending nightmare for them. That contrast alone exposes the brutal apartheid," he added.
The United Nations (UN) said in May that it identified roughly 850 Israeli checkpoints, gates, and other physical barriers across the occupied Palestinian territory, the largest number recorded in the previous two decades.
"Findings recorded nearly 850 checkpoints, gates and other physical obstacles, the highest number documented in any of the 16 surveys the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has conducted over the past two decade," said UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
Kriel said he saw Palestinian families denied water, electricity cut on a whim, children "corralled in checkpoints" like cattle, homes bulldozed, and a creeping climate of fear. He described Israel's actions against Palestine as a systematic dispossession and ethnic cleansing.
"Apartheid South Africa institutionalised segregation, land grabs and pass laws to control a majority," Kriel said. "Israel's checkpoints, separation barrier and settler enclaves do the same to Palestinians. Both systems rely on 'security' pretexts to justify land theft and daily humiliation."
In a move that stunned the world, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the European nation would recognise a Palestinian state in September.
"True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the state of Palestine," Macron posted on X. "We must build the state of Palestine, ensure its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative."
However, Kriel sees this as an attempt to save face as worldwide protests for Palestine continue.
"Europe's sudden compassion is cynical. They boycotted Russia but left Palestinians to languish. The truth is that public outrage forced them to change course, proof that pressure works, but their delay cost thousands of lives. Genocide isn't hyperbole when civilians are starved, bombed, and denied medical aid."
Kriel added that the road ahead is not through polite negotiations or a hollow peace process, but it's genuine, consistent, worldwide pressure, including boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).
"Cut military aid and isolate Israel like we did apartheid South Africa. End the occupation, dismantle the settlements, and guarantee equal rights. This isn't complicated; it's about ending a racist, colonial regime. Palestinians don't need charity; they need liberation," he said.
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