South Africa's moral compass... Desmond Tutu and Palestine in pictures
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, advocate for the Palestinian cause and human rights, died on Sunday aged 90.
The buoyant, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later archbishop of Cape Town as well as frequent public demonstrations to raise awareness against racial inequity at home and globally.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said "the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa".
"A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world."
In this piece, we in QNN have a look at the life of the anti-racism icon as remembered by the Palestinian people.
Desmond Tutu talks to a child from the Al-Asamneh family in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on 28 May 2008. In April 2008, the Israeli army targeted a house in Beit Hanoun with an artillery shell, killing 18 civilians, including an entire family, whose five members were having their breakfast. (Photo credit: AFP)
(From L to R) Former Norwegian prime minister Gro Brundtland, former Irish president Mary Robinson, former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former US president Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and prominent Indian activist Ela Bhatt visit the tomb of Bassem Abu Rahme, a Palestinian youth who was killed by Israeli soldiers in April 2009 during a march against Israel's separation wall, on 27 August 2009 in the West Bank village of Bilin. Israeli soldiers directly targeted Abu Rahme with a poisonous tear gas canister in his chest during a peaceful protest against the apartheid wall, murdering him. The crime was caught on three video footages, however the Israeli Supreme Court in 2018 refused to bring those involved in the crime to justice. (Photo credit: AFP)
A Palestinian woman kisses the hand of South African activist and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (L) during his visit in Beit Sahour, on December 24, 1989. During his visit to the West Bank city, Tutu spoke to a crowd of Palestinian citizens and officials and drew a comparison between apartheid South Africa and Israel, stating that "oppression and injustice" of his country, the lack of political rights for blacks and their inferior schools and housing, only to add with pointed irony, "I am talking about South Africa." "The people know in their hearts that victory is assured and they will be free," Tutu went on. "They know that their struggle is not in vain. They know that they too will share in the government of the country, that they will be free to vote, to go where they want to go . . . and that the army will be their protectors. I am talking about South Africa." (Photo by FEINBLATT and Patrick BAZ / AFP) (Photo by FEINBLATT,PATRICK BAZ/AFP)
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, centre, accompanied by Deputy Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Saeed Jamal, right, and head of the Anglican Church, Bishop Samir Kafity (on Tutu’s left) at the Dome of the Rock mosque in the courtyard of Al Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem, December 23, 1989 [Photo credit: Anat Givon/AP]
Archbishop Desmond Tutu giving a moving address at a 2014 rally for Palestine in Cape Town - the protest march, attended by over 250 000 people, was the largest that South Africa witnessed (on any issue) since the dawn of democracy in the country.
The protest march for Palestine was organized by the MJC, ANC and Africa4Palestine together with many other organizations. It was attended by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chief Mandla Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, several government Ministers, MPS and others including several members of the South African Jewish community. [Photo credit: Screenshot from video footage published by Africa4Palestibe].
Senior Hamas leader and former elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Archbishop Desmond Tutu hold a joint press conference following a meeting in Gaza City on May 27, 2008. Tutu held talks with Haniya where he led a UN fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians in an 2006 Israeli artillery attack. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
Desmond Tutu talks to a child from the Al-Asamneh family in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on 28 May 2008. In April 2008, the Israeli army targeted a house in Beit Hanoun with an artillery shell, killing 18 civilians, including an entire family, whose five members were having their breakfast. (Photo credit: AFP)
(From L to R) Former Norwegian prime minister Gro Brundtland, former Irish president Mary Robinson, former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former US president Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and prominent Indian activist Ela Bhatt visit the tomb of Bassem Abu Rahme, a Palestinian youth who was killed by Israeli soldiers in April 2009 during a march against Israel's separation wall, on 27 August 2009 in the West Bank village of Bilin. Israeli soldiers directly targeted Abu Rahme with a poisonous tear gas canister in his chest during a peaceful protest against the apartheid wall, murdering him. The crime was caught on three video footages, however the Israeli Supreme Court in 2018 refused to bring those involved in the crime to justice. (Photo credit: AFP)
A Palestinian woman kisses the hand of South African activist and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (L) during his visit in Beit Sahour, on December 24, 1989. During his visit to the West Bank city, Tutu spoke to a crowd of Palestinian citizens and officials and drew a comparison between apartheid South Africa and Israel, stating that "oppression and injustice" of his country, the lack of political rights for blacks and their inferior schools and housing, only to add with pointed irony, "I am talking about South Africa." "The people know in their hearts that victory is assured and they will be free," Tutu went on. "They know that their struggle is not in vain. They know that they too will share in the government of the country, that they will be free to vote, to go where they want to go . . . and that the army will be their protectors. I am talking about South Africa." (Photo by FEINBLATT and Patrick BAZ / AFP) (Photo by FEINBLATT,PATRICK BAZ/AFP)
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, centre, accompanied by Deputy Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Saeed Jamal, right, and head of the Anglican Church, Bishop Samir Kafity (on Tutu’s left) at the Dome of the Rock mosque in the courtyard of Al Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem, December 23, 1989 [Photo credit: Anat Givon/AP]
Archbishop Desmond Tutu giving a moving address at a 2014 rally for Palestine in Cape Town - the protest march, attended by over 250 000 people, was the largest that South Africa witnessed (on any issue) since the dawn of democracy in the country.
The protest march for Palestine was organized by the MJC, ANC and Africa4Palestine together with many other organizations. It was attended by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chief Mandla Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, several government Ministers, MPS and others including several members of the South African Jewish community. [Photo credit: Screenshot from video footage published by Africa4Palestibe].
Senior Hamas leader and former elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Archbishop Desmond Tutu hold a joint press conference following a meeting in Gaza City on May 27, 2008. Tutu held talks with Haniya where he led a UN fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians in an 2006 Israeli artillery attack. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
