By Magdy A. Sa’ed, IOL Staff

CAIRO, October 11 (IslamOnline.net) – The Palestine Solidarity Committee of South Africa plans a protest campaign across South Africa against a visit by Israeli Deputy Premier Ehud Olmert to the country, scheduled for Saturday, October 16.

In a statement, a copy of which sent to IslamOnline.net Monday, October 11, the PSC regretted the invitation extended by the government to the senior Israeli official and urged Pretoria to scrap it.

The visit comes at a time Israel is pursuing a deadly onslaught on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, said the committee, formed in 1998 to promote the Palestinian cause and to lead an international movement against Apartheid Israel.

Since Israel unleashed its military might, at least 100 Palestinians have been killed in the bloodiest raid on the Strip since the start of the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation four years ago.

Palestinian schoolgirl Iman Al-Hams had tried to run for her life, but three trigger-happy Israeli soldiers were so frenzied that they kept chasing her with their bullets.

According to medics, some 20 bullets have riddled her tiny body, including five in the head.

The Israeli army said it has opened an investigation into claims by soldiers that their commander fired multiple shots at Iman who had already been gunned down in Gaza, according to military radio Monday.

The PSC also regretted that the visit comes as defiant Israeli occupation forces are continuing the construction of the apartheid separation wall, swallowing up more Palestinian lands and leaving the Palestinian people living in virtual “devilish” prisons.

The UN General Assembly demanded Israel on July 20 to abide by the International Court of Justice's ruling and tear down the separation wall.

The ICJ ruled on July 9 that the barrier was illegal because it cuts deep into the occupied West Bank to shield settlements built by Israel on Palestinian territory it occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.

Israel, which vowed to ignore the verdict, claims the barrier is essential for security reasons.

The Palestinians -– backed by international community and the UN –- maintain that the wall is nothing but an Israeli land-grab and a bid to pre-empt the borders of their future state.

More than 200,000 Palestinians are already suffering the humanitarian consequences of the wall, according to the United Nations.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that with the completion of the wall, 30 percent of the West Bank population, or some 680,000 people, will be “directly harmed.”

Legitimatizing Occupation

Olmert will lead a 12-member delegation of Israeli officials and businessmen on a two-week visit to South Africa.

In a statement announcing the visit, the South African Foreign Ministry claimed it was part of its efforts to facilitate peace in the Middle East.

The PSC, which groups well-known political activists, religious personalities and former anti-apartheid advocates, questioned the argument.

It said that by cooperating with the Israeli government, the South African government is, in fact, undermining all peace efforts and giving legitimacy to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The PSC also described Olmert as a Zionist hardliner who opposed the Oslo agreements and okayed the construction of many Jewish settlements in and around Al-Quds (Jerusalem) when serving as its mayor.

It recalled that representatives of international anti-war and anti-globalization movements, who met in the Lebanese capital Beirut three weeks ago, called for an international campaign to boycott Israel.

South Africa should be at the forefront of this campaign and not otherwise, said the committee.

The PSC declaration focuses on the parallels between South African and Israeli apartheid and the parallels between the liberation struggles.

It calls for an end to Israeli occupation, the return of the Palestinian refugees and for the establishment of a secular democratic Palestinian state.