South Africa foreign minister says charter flights part of a plan to clear Palestinians out of Gaza

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa's foreign minister on Monday criticized a plane that arrived in the country with more than 150 Palestinians on board as part of a "broader agenda” to clear out Gaza and the West Bank through a network of chartered flights.

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola did not say who South Africa believed had organized the chartered plane that arrived in Johannesburg on Thursday with 153 Palestinians, but his comments were seen as accusing Israel of being behind a campaign to remove people from the Palestinian territories and send them to other countries.

“Indeed, we are suspicious as the South African government about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane and the passengers that were in the plane,” Lamola said. “It does look like it represents a broader agenda to remove Palestinians from Palestine into many different parts of the world and it's a clearly orchestrated operation because they are not only being sent to South Africa. There are other countries where such flights have been sent.”

The Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories said the Palestinians on the chartered plane to South Africa left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.

Israel’s government has previously embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians in a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

Trump has since backed away from that plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.

Israel held discussions with South Sudan earlier this year about the possibility of resettling Palestinians there from Gaza as part of a wider Israeli effort to facilitate mass emigration from the territory. It also floated resettlement plans for Palestinians with other African governments.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there will be an investigation by intelligence services into who was behind the plane carrying Palestinians that arrived at Johannesburg's main O.R. Tambo International Airport from the Ramon Airport in southern Israel via a stopover in Kenya.

“We do not want any further flights to come our way because this is a clear agenda to cleanse out the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank,” Lamola said.

South African authorities said the Palestinians — who included families with children and a woman who was nine months pregnant — did not have the correct documents to travel to South Africa or proper exit documents from Israel. They were ultimately granted entry after being blocked from disembarking the plane by immigration officials and held onboard on the airport tarmac for around 12 hours in a move by South African authorities that was fiercely criticized by rights groups.

South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinians and a critic of Israel.

Lamola's comments followed accusations made by South African civic groups that a Jerusalem-based organization called Al-Majd organized the charter to South Africa and has ties with Israel. The groups offered no evidence for their claims of Israeli ties.

An Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa and acquired proper travel documents for them.

A South African NGO said that the chartered plane that arrived in Johannesburg last week was the second from Israel in recent weeks following a flight that landed on Oct. 28 with more than 170 Palestinians on board.

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